In their support for the Suncoast Parkway 2, the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) unanimously agreed that one of their main reasons for supporting the Suncoast Parkway 2 was their concern that the Suncoast 1 would be "dumping traffic into the county" and clogging the county's road system.
However, by the County's own criteria, the Suncoast 1 has neither created nor resolved any road problems in Citrus County. This concern (one which has influenced the Commissioners to support the construction of the Suncoast2) has turned out to be unwarranted.
In response to that concern, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) reported that in 2002 the SC2 had an average annual daily traffic (AADT) figure of 3,000 vehicles and reported to Mr. Roscow via email that this figure was 3,700 in 2003. It seems odd that they did not publicly release this figure as several BOCC commissioner's had told reporters that they wanted these figures before making a final decision.
One should note that the AADT figure is for total volume in a day summed for both directions, or the sum of trips in each direction. Usually it is assumed that approximately half of the AADT is in each direction. The directionality of the traffic would have been known to determine the AADT but was not given.
The Citrus BOCC gives a quantitative insight into the intensity of this impact on its website. There one finds the criteria for submitting traffic studies to the county for review by the county staff. The Traffic Study Guidelines can be read
here.
Under the heading Guidelines for Traffic Impact Analysis, one can find the criteria required by Citrus County. Following is part of that section:
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Guidelines for Traffic Impact Analysis
Citrus county Land Development Code Section 4210 covers general requirements for a Traffic Impact Analysis Study, specifically subsection B. Additionally , Section 4742 addresses in general terms of the determination of project impact regarding the transportation system. All assumptions should be provided to the County in the form of a Methodology Mwithemo subject to review and discussion/coordination.
The traffic methodology should address the following items:
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The guideline's table indicates that the Primary Impact Area of the Suncoast 1 would be 1 mile around its intersection with US 98. In other words, if one takes the AADT figures for the Suncoast 1 for years 2002 and 2003 it would barely rate this level of impact. Or, put it another way, the Suncoast 1 has had an effect on the county comparable to a development of only 5 to 600 homes (assuming 5 to 6 trips generated per home). This number is negligible.
In terms of peak vehicle volume, this AADT equates to approximately 370 vehicles total, or 185 trips each way at the peak hour. Given the 70 MPH speed limit on the Suncoast 1, the spacing between cars in each direction would be about 2,800 feet or over a half mile, hardly a traffic jam given that there are 4 lanes. Figures this low hardly rate a 2-lane highway and are close to what one might encounter on the road to Ozello or Fort Island Beach.
Viewed another way, the existing Suncoast 1 is "seeing" less than half the traffic that would be expected from a Wal-Mart Supercenter based on projections by the Institute of Traffic Engineers (ITE). The following is excerpted from an ordinance referencing the ITE projections:
(see details of the above data from source 
is)
Therefore, the traffic generated presently by the Suncoast 1 has no real impact on the County after over two full years of operation, to answer directly to the Commissioners' question.
It seems that the Suncoast 1 neither creates or answers road problems in Citrus County when viewed quantitatively by the County's own criteria.