PORT ST. JOE — Officials with the Florida Department of Transportation on Tuesday unveiled a new proposed alternative for the Gulf Coast Parkway to the Board of County Commissioners.
Gulf County Commissioners seemed unimpressed.
Jason Peters, a director with FDOT District III, provided the update while seeking to find consensus in Gulf and Bay counties for a new proposed alternative in the next 60 days or so, he informed commissioners.
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He’s hopeful a consensus would allow the FDOT to offer the alternative, along with a corridor previously identified by the FDOT as the preferred option, to the Federal Highway Administration, which is providing funding.
“It is up to the FDOT to justify the alternative,” Peters said.
But Commissioner Ward McDaniel noted the alternative being offered was not much different from the preferred route, which as designed is nearly all in Bay County, meaning the bulk of an estimated $18 million in road funding will be spent in Bay County.
“This is also going to the (Callaway) Wal-Mart,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel and McLemore also were skeptical of a statement from Peters that a majority of responses from county residents during last May’s public hearings were in support of the preferred alternative.
“I don’t buy that,” McDaniel said.
McLemore added, “We didn’t support it.”
County officials protested, by letter and in person to the FDOT secretary, that the original intent of the Gulf Coast Parkway, in significant measure to foster economic development in Gulf County, had been abrogated with the selection of the preferred alternative.
That route, so-called No. 17, travels around Tyndall Air Force Base and connects to Star Avenue in Bay County en route to Callaway.
“Gulf County got completely cut out,” McDaniel said. “It was for Gulf County and Franklin County to begin with.”
After that protest from Gulf County, FDOT officials sought to provide an alternative that would meet the county’s needs and received permission from the Federal Highway Administration to offer an alternative.
The preferred route, Peters emphasized several times, was identified as being optimal due to costs and environmental factors.
For instance, a bridge proposed to be constructed over East Bay as part of corridor No. 17, was preferable to jutting directly north using County 386 due to the level of wildlife along the more northerly route.
What Peters brought Tuesday was corridor No. 19, which follows No. 17 into Bay County and Star Avenue but includes a spur that would jut north to connect to the newly-constructed Bay Intermodal Center.
Peters said that during public hearings last year No. 19 came in just behind No. 17 for a preferred alternative.
It would not follow the more northerly routes, which would ultimately connect to U.S. 231 near Camp Flowers Road, most preferred by county officials, particularly corridor No. 15 which is nearly a direct route from County 386 north to U.S. 231.
That route is roughly four miles longer than the preferred corridor, No. 17, but does not include construction of a bridge, local officials have noted in their argument against No. 17.
In any case, Peters presentation did not include either of the corridors most sought by the county and was met with mostly by silence, at least from county commissioners.
“There is no way we can support the alternatives they had up there,” said Port St. Joe Commissioner Bo Patterson. He said the county was trying to develop a port and bring in jobs.
Nothing offered by the FDOT fit that bill.
“Those two (alternatives) are not what Gulf County needs,” Patterson said.
County attorney Jeremy Novak asked about the timeline to secure consensus from Bay and Gulf counties, with Peters answering that the new alternative had yet to be presented to Bay County officials.
He said FDOT officials hoped to have a decision and move forward with the Federal Highway Administration in the next 60 days.
The Gulf Coast Parkway has been an ongoing saga for a decade, as Peters noted.
Planning for the parkway dates back to a federal highway bill that included funding for a “regionally significant road project that enhances security by creating a U.S. 90 bypass around Tyndall Air Force Base and creates a commerce-hurricane evacuation corridor connecting Gulf County/Port St. Joe with Panama City/Bay County.”
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Those goals, according to an FDOT fact sheet justifying the parkway project, include, among other missions, as county officials have repeatedly noted, providing a more direct route between U.S. 98 in Gulf County and U.S. 231 for freight and providing a more direct route for tourists between U.S. 231 and south Gulf County.
Public Works director Joe Danford noted one more issue with the corridors proposed by the FDOT.
Both would route U.S. 98 north of Tyndall, but in the event of a hurricane, that roadway would likely be blocked by Tyndall due to security issues.