County Line Road, the rural road that divides Wesley Chapel from New Tampa, is about to turn seriously suburban.

Between the Grand Hampton neighborhood's plans for 1,100 homes on the Hillsborough County side to the Northwood development's 1,000- home expansion on the Pasco County side, County Line traffic could swell by thousands of cars a day.

Hillsborough and Pasco transportation planners aren't troubled by the prospect. Widening County Line Road between Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Interstate 75 appears on neither county's long-range road plan through 2025.

"You can pump a lot of cars on that thing without overloading it. Your problem is the intersections," Pasco transportation planning chief Doug Uden said.

Driving patterns suggest planners are right not to overreact. The counties have committed tens of millions of dollars to build other routes for Wesley Chapel and New Tampa residents.

The biggest is State Road 56. It opened last year about a mile north of County Line Road. Its Interstate 75 interchange is relatively uncongested, though that will change with the construction of new homes and shopping centers.

Pasco's section of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard - the road continues south into Hillsborough - is scheduled for widening from two to six lanes starting in January 2005.

Compared to those thoroughfares, County Line Road is among the least-traveled commuter routes linking the suburbs to Tampa. The main reason is that its I-75 overpass has no ramps onto the freeway .

Uden said two lanes on County Line Road are sufficient as long as Grand Hampton and Northwood install turn lanes as necessary.

Grand Hampton started digging in August, the birth of what it calls an "upscale club community." Trees have been cleared to half a mile south of the county line.

The developer, LandMar, said homes should start selling in May. Prices will range from about $200,000 to $700,000.

On the north side of the highway, Northwood and the Lakes at Northwood have sold about 1,000 lots. Developers hope to double that number on nearly 400 acres of still-undeveloped field and forest.

Smaller developments will fill in much of the rest of the two- mile stretch of County Line from Bruce B. Downs to I-75.

They include an 84-home subdivision proposed by Morrison Homes northeast of I-75 and County Line, a sanctuary for Crossroads Community United Methodist Church, and Creative Times Academy day care.

Not all residential traffic will use the developments' County Line Road entrances. Northwood plans a second entrance on SR 56, Grand Hampton on Bruce B. Downs, Uden said.

Planners insist the real trouble spot is County Line's intersection with Bruce B. Downs, at the gate to the Meadow Pointe neighborhood. A fix, however, is in the works.

Not only will Pasco widen County Line Road to four lanes for 1.4 miles through Meadow Pointe (construction should start next spring), but Pasco plans to add lanes opposite at the entrance to the Northwood Commercial Center, anchored by SuperTarget.

Uden said those projects are vital in a way that a general widening of County Line west to I-75 isn't.

"We put a lot of money into projects like SR 56 to improve traffic," Uden said. "It would cost you a fortune to multilane County Line Road."

- James Thorner covers growth and development in Pasco County. He can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4613. His e-mail address is thorner@sptimes.com.

( map locates Northwood and Grand Hampton at the Hillsborough and Pasco border)