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Highlands Today

Special Session Will DecideIf Road Project Stays Afloat

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

The county is going to put a four-way traffic light at the intersection of U.S. 27 and George Boulevard, which is south of Sebring. This is one of the many road projects for the year.

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By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: October 2, 2007

SEBRING –– Old State Road 8 is too narrow, too bumpy and, in some places, sometimes under water.

For Highlands County's plan to reconstruct this road over the next year, the state giveth $2.3 million.

County officials are hoping the state, facing a billion-dollar revenue shortfall, won't taketh away.

The fate of this project rides on the special 10-day session of the Florida Legislature starting tomorrow. Legislators and Gov. Charlie Christ need to chop $1.1 billion in spending to balance the budget.

Highlands County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said the reconstruction of Old State Road 8 isn't expected to get the "ax." But, he said, nothing will be certain until the Legislature finishes its budget cutting.

"Right now, it (funding) is in there," he said, referring to the state budget. "They have not told us it's on the chopping block. We think it's going to stay in.

"But," Gavarrete added, "you never know until the special session is over."

Reconstruction of 8.9 miles of Old State Road 8, from State Road 70 south, is the second largest among the county's seven major road projects scheduled for the new 2007-08 fiscal year, which began Monday.

It ranks behind only Phase II of Sebring Parkway, which will extend the four-lane, limited-access parkway from North Ridgewood Drive to U.S. 27 at Highlands Avenue. Construction of and payments on this $26 million project will be stretched out over three years.

The Old State Road 8 project includes widening and resurfacing the road, removing small hills and bumps, and raising a section of the roadway near Toni Drive to prevent flooding. The state's Small County Road Assistance Program is scheduled to pay the entire cost, set at $2,303,920.

Since 1999, "wet years" have routinely brought flooding to this road in the Toni Drive area, Gavarrete said.

"It's very important to keep it out of water," Gavarrete said. Old State Road 8 was the main north-south roadway in Highlands County before U.S. 27 was built and remains the access road for Highlands Greenhouse Inc., the largest nursery in the state.

Funding is not in jeopardy for the county's third largest road project in the new fiscal year, the paving of Tractor Road, which now has a shell surface. Just over $1 million is budgeted for this project, which will pave about 1.1 miles of Tractor Road, starting at Lunsford Road and running south to the end.

Heavy traffic on Tractor Road, which is expected to get heavier, gives it an almost constant "washboard surface," Gavarrete said. "You get a pretty good 'massage' when you drive on it."

Paving Tractor Road will save considerable road maintenance money, the county engineer said.

"Right now, we're having to grade this road two or three times a week," he said. Normally, shell roads are graded once every two weeks.

A fourth major project scheduled by the county is extending George Boulevard about 400 feet west of U.S. 27 to connect with Tractor Road, and installing a four-way traffic light at the intersection of U.S. 27 and George Boulevard. Estimated cost for the traffic light and road extension is $309,978.

State approval is needed to install the traffic light, Gavarrete said, "and we're probably going to have some high level meetings with the (state) Department of Transportation soon."

Access to the county offices on George Boulevard now is limited to a right turn onto George Boulevard from U.S. 27 South. Also, access onto U.S. 27 from George Boulevard is limited to a right turn from George Boulevard.

This intersection has been the scene of several fatal crashes since 2004. For about two years, the county has been unsuccessfully petitioning the state for a fully operational traffic light there. The existing traffic signal is only a flashing yellow caution light, which turns into a red light for U.S. 27 when EMS ambulances, fire trucks or Emergency Management vehicles are exiting George Boulevard on emergency runs.

Gavarrete said the planned George Boulevard extension won't be constructed until and unless a fully operational, four-way traffic light goes up on U.S. 27 at George Boulevard. He hopes to secure state approval for the traffic light this fiscal year.

"Can you imagine having a full four-way intersection there without a (traffic) signal?" he asked. "I personally would not recommend building it (George Boulevard extension) without a fully activated signal there."

Also scheduled for the new fiscal year are:

* Installing a four-way traffic light on Sebring Parkway at Scenic Highway, at a cost of $160,000;

* Extending by 100 feet the southbound, left turn/through lane on Memorial Drive at Sebring Parkway, at an estimated cost of $50,000; and

* Converting all 600 feet of Summit Road, which runs off Scenic Highway, and about 1,000 feet of Sparkling Drive, which crosses Summit Road, from a shell surface to paved roads (estimated cost not available yet).

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