TAMPA, Fla. — The Citrus Park Drive Extension opened overnight, a project that has been in the making since the 1980s.

The extension connects the Citrus Park area between Sheldon Road and Countryway Boulevard.

It’s a 2.73-mile four-lane extension that promises to cut down on traffic congestion and speed travel times in the densely populated area of Hillsborough County.

“It's going to drastically improve travel times,” said County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who has been working on the project since 2005 when funding was first approved.

“Our project engineers have estimated that at peak hours it takes about 20 minutes to get from Deer Park Elementary to the Citrus Park Mall.,” Hagan said.  “Once this road is open it's going to take 3-4 minutes."

Connecting the two existing segments of Citrus Park Drive will accommodate future traffic demands in the northwest area of Hillsborough County, including the neighborhoods within and around Westchase and Citrus Park.

This project provides pedestrian and bicycling connectivity to other neighborhoods, as well as the Upper Tampa Bay Trail and Deer Park Elementary School, and will alleviate traffic volumes on Linebaugh Avenue and South Mobley Road.

Although the extension corridor is already built out from a residential standpoint, Hagan says the new corridor does offer the county more business opportunities, with the extension being a selling point for new businesses to move into the area.