LYNN HAVEN — People were of two minds at a public forum Tuesday night detailing expansion of State 390.
Lynn Haven Mayor Walter Kelley voiced one common perspective.
“I think they’re feeling good that we’re making a move to make it six lanes,” Kelley said of constituents. “We’ve waited a long time for the road to be done.”
However, there was a continuous crowd of people waiting to meet with lawyer Joe Fixel, whose firm is representing property owners in the path of expansion, on the north side of the street. Kathy Malagon was one of those people who met with Fixel. She refrained from saying anything more than general thoughts about the meeting.
“It’s been enlightening,” Malagon said. “Everybody has been full of information.”
Florida Department of Transportation officials specified that the meeting was about the expansion between Jenks Avenue and U.S. 77, just 1.8 miles in Lynn Haven. Public information officer Donna Green and project manager Sandra Lamb were both unsure how many parcels would be affected by the expansion but that $33 million is already committed to that portion of the project. The right of way has yet to be formally set and design of the roadway is still underway. With properties narrowing considerably in the corridor, almost every property on the north side of 390 will be affected.
Green said the project is necessary to increase traffic flow and provide a safe evacuation route in case a hurricane affects the coastal area.
“Our projections are not just about one corridor,” she said. “We look at traffic coming from highway 77; we look at people who are evacuating, they will be coming from everywhere.”
Some residents were looking at FDOT maps for their property to find out if they were in the right of way. In multiple cases the properties were just outside the affected area. Glenn Wilson, who lives at Kentucky Avenue and 14th Street, was one of those cases.
“They’re going to build a pond there,” Glenn said. “It’s probably 200 feet away but I’m only guessing.”
Residents in the Bel Air neighborhood were concerned about drainage issues. Dennis Hlad was one of those who said the culverts under 390 currently have the tendency to back up and cause water to pool. He said the worst case was during flooding on July 4, 2013.
“They’ve been very receptive to ideas,” Hlad said.
Green said property acquisition for FDOT should take two years, with the project being bid for construction in December of 2017. A likely start date would then be April or May in 2018. The Lynn Haven section is just the final phase of the 390 expansion, with the sections between 23rd Street and Baldwin Road and Baldwin Road to Jenks starting in the spring of 2017.