Pasco County crews start resurfacing Chancey Road in Zephyrhills on Sunday, Aug. 9, working nights between Gall Boulevard (U.S. 301) and just past Paul S. Buchman Highway (State Road 39), and the job is expected to take about two weeks. That puts single-lane closures on one of the city's busiest east-west connectors during the same stretch that Pasco County Schools opens the 2026-27 year on Thursday, Aug. 13.
Work hours are 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday through Thursday. Friday and Saturday nights are off. Expect one lane closed at a time rather than a full shutdown, and expect flaggers and message boards in both directions pointing drivers through the work zone. The county is asking motorists to slow down and stay alert through the area.
Once the new asphalt is down, crews will lay fresh pavement markings.
The overlap with the first day of school
Crews clear out at 6 a.m. Zephyrhills High School's first bell rings at 7:06 a.m. That is roughly an hour between a night paving shift wrapping up and the heaviest school-traffic hour of the day arriving on the same road.
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 7 p.m. | Lane closures go up |
| 6 a.m. | Crews clear the road |
| 7:06 a.m. | Zephyrhills High starts |
| 9:50 a.m. | West Zephyrhills Elementary starts |
Elementary families get a wider cushion. West Zephyrhills Elementary does not start until 9:50 a.m., well clear of the work window. The tighter squeeze is the high school run and the buses feeding it, plus anyone using Chancey to reach U.S. 301 before 7 a.m.
Pasco has the latest return date in the region this year. Neighboring districts were back before Pasco students had picked up a backpack, which means the first Zephyrhills bus routes of the year will be running a corridor that has been under equipment every weeknight since the weekend.
Another round on a road that has had plenty
Chancey Road has been a construction map for years. The widening and intersection work at U.S. 301 reshaped the west end of the corridor, and repairs at Morris Bridge Road and Chancey, which included structural work and a large water main replacement, kept that intersection torn up until it reopened around the end of 2025.
Resurfacing is a smaller job than any of that. It is asphalt and striping, not a rebuild, and it happens overnight specifically so daytime traffic keeps moving. Two weeks is the county's estimate, not a guarantee, and rain is the usual reason paving schedules slip in August.
How to plan around it
If you drive Chancey east of Gall Boulevard after 7 p.m., budget extra minutes or take an alternate. Eiland Boulevard and Pretty Pond Road are the practical east-west options depending on where you are starting from. During school-day mornings the road should be fully open, but freshly milled surfaces, temporary markings and loose equipment at the shoulders are worth watching for in the first light.
The county has not said which segment crews will hit first, or which nights the striping goes down. Watch the portable message boards on Chancey for night-by-night changes, and note that bus routes on the first days of school often run late anyway while drivers learn new stops.
Keep up with Zephyrhills road work, school news and everything else at Zephyrhills Community Website, and tell us how your commute is holding up in our Community Forum. For more traffic and closure coverage, read our latest alerts, or catch up on education stories as the new school year gets going.
---
Comments
Sign inas a community member to join the conversation. It's free!
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!