State transportation officials are at least two years removed from deciding whether the Suncoast Parkway should be built through Citrus County.

The county, though, may beat them to the punch.

A consultant developing a 25-year transportation plan for Citrus County will consider road impacts with and without the parkway.

That's similar to what the Florida Turnpike Enterprise will do once it decides on one route through the county.

The county's transportation report, though, should be completed by late spring or early summer 2004 -- more than a year before the state conducts its study.

That means county officials will have their own data to determine impacts with and without the parkway, and then may use that information to offset costs.

"The board is not at all shy about asking to DOT (Department of Transportation) to step up to the pump," county commission Chairman Josh Wooten said. "We can ask them to minimize or absorb the impacts."

The Turnpike Enterprise is conducting a planning, development and environmental (PD&E) study on whether to continue the parkway from U.S. 98 on the Hernando/Citrus county border to U.S. 19 in Red Level, a few miles north of Crystal River.

It is studying 10 possible alignments for the Suncoast 2. Once a route is decided upon, project manager Carl Gibilaro said, the state will then conduct a build/no build study.

That study will show impacts with and without the parkway in a number of areas, including environment, loss of homes or businesses and transportation needs.

The county's transportation study won't address other issues, but it will narrow in on road impacts, consultant Greg Kern said.

Kern said he believes projections from the DOT for Suncoast 2 will show an increase in traffic from U.S. 98 once the new parkway is built. Where the traffic goes from there, he said, determines impacts to county roads.

For example, he said, transportation officials are recommending an exit at Cardinal Street. Should that happen, Cardinal would likely need widening to four lanes. The question then becomes who pays for that widening?

Wooten said information like that can be used to ensure road impact costs that involve Suncoast 2 is covered by the state.

"Obviously if we're telling the public we need the parkway for future infrastructure, it would have to tie in our overall plan," he said.

Kern said he expects most parkway traffic from the south to get off at State Road 44. The county's traffic study, he said, should show whether the traffic heads east or west.