PANAMA CITY — Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) officials are planning for an unprecedented investment in Bay County roadways in the coming years.
FDOT officials provided an update on several major projects at the Bay County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly First Friday meeting, the most substantial being the 23rd Street flyover project.
The design portion is now complete for the three-year flyover project, which is slated for completion in fall 2018. During construction, FDOT plans to maintain all existing travel lanes by way of a temporary road.
“This is an exciting time for transportation in the state of Florida,” said Jared Perdue, a design engineer for the FDOT’s Panhandle district, citing a $9.9 billion budget for the agency under Gov. Rick Scott’s “Keep Florida Working” budget.
“It’s pretty amazing, and what’s really exciting is the Panhandle is getting to realize the benefits of all that funding,” Perdue said. “You have some major, major transportation projects in the area.”
The flyover project alone carries a $68 million construction cost.
“Obviously, the intent here is to fly over the railroad, fly over 23rd Street and fly over Collegiate Drive and the port entrance, so as to alleviate the congestion there,” Perdue said. “It’s going to be an awesome project once it gets going.”
Another major project in the pipeline for Bay County is the State 390 widening project, which will take the roadway from two lanes to six between 23rd Street in Panama City and State 77 in Lynn Haven. Additionally, the project would make the corridor pedestrian-friendly by adding 6-foot sidewalks on each side of the roadway, as well as designated bike lanes and roadway lighting.
“This is tremendous to me because State 390 is not a friendly place for pedestrians now,” said Perdue, who described the project as “very expensive, but very needed.”
The project will be conducted in three segments, with the first two spanning from 23rd Street to Jenks Avenue and carrying a construction cost of about $30 million. Work will begin on the first two segments in August 2017 with completion anticipated in fall 2019.
The third section of the project, a $22 million construction project from Jenks Avenue to State 77, is slated to begin in April 2018 and wrap up sometime in 2020.
Perdue also made note of a project in the works to expand State 388, the only access road to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in West Bay, from two to four lanes, with plans to eventially widen to six lanes in the future.