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Highlands Today

Traffic Light For New Wal-Mart Months Away

Highlands Today photo by KATHY WATERS

County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete says the opening of this Wal-Mart in Avon Park will not likely ease traffic in front of Wal-Mart in Sebring.

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By DOUG CARMAN

Highlands Today

Published: August 8, 2008

AVON PARK - After Avon Park is welcomed to Wal-Mart next week, expect more cars and traffic to congest U.S. 27 North near the new Supercenter.

Don't worry about sitting at a red light in the middle of rush hour at Shop 16 Road, however, because the traffic light is not coming for at least another six months, County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said. The Florida Department of Transportation would not approve it before the store opened.

"I can tell you we're going to need that signal the first day that Wal-Mart is open, but (Florida) DOT has (its) own policies," Gavarrete said. "If this would have been 100 percent on county roads, I would have approved that signal immediately."

According to Gavarrete, Avon Park, the county and Wal-Mart all agreed to have a traffic light installed at that intersection at Wal-Mart's expense before the Bentonville, Ark., corporation broke ground at the site, but since U.S. 27 is state-owned, it's not up to Gavarrete or the city to approve the light.

"They need the traffic to be there already" before they would allow the light to be installed, he said.

FDOT District 1 spokeswoman Lauren Hatchell said they normally require several eight-hour traffic studies, which report the number of vehicles that cross the intersection from all directions as well as the number of cars making turns on it. To her knowledge, the FDOT never approved a new traffic light for an intersection based on projections.

"Generally speaking that's how things kind of just work," Hatchell said.

After two weeks, the city or county might send a letter to Wal-Mart requesting that they perform the traffic study for the new light, which could take three months to perform. A month after that, the DOT would likely approve the light, then it would take approximately three months to order and ship the poles and masts to the site for installation.

Meanwhile, the city has anticipated heavier traffic along the northern stretch of U.S. 27, and City Clerk Cheryl Tietjen said she fielded at least one phone call from a resident who was concerned about the traffic at the Shop 16 intersection.

Avon Park Police Cmdr. Mike Rowan said he didn't have any special program in place for it, but he said it would use more unmanned "ghost" cars near the Wal-Mart to slow people down over there. The police would also send more patrols and use message boards to warn drivers of any congestion that's created.

Gavarrete's betting on the APPD to keep the traffic in line until the new traffic light can be installed.

"You are within 45 mph speed limits ... that is enforced by the city PD, so it's not like they're going 60 or 70 mph," he said. "So I got a feeling even though it's going to be very congested, it will be workable for a few months."

Doug Carman can be reached at 386-5838 or dcarman@highlandstoday.com

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