Traffic Signal Needed On Memorial

SEBRING - The busy intersection of Memorial Drive and Valerie Boulevard will be further improved for safety by adding a traffic signal and three turning lanes.

The intersection, north of Sebring and south of Avon Park, is now a four-way stop.

Highlands County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said a traffic-crash problem at Memorial and Valerie was solved last year when traffic control there was upgraded from a two-way stop to a four-way stop.

Now, Gavarrete said, a traffic signal is needed because traffic volume is expected to increase greatly when the new Memorial Drive Elementary School opens in late August.

Gavarrete hopes to get approval for the traffic signal from the Highlands County commissioners at their board meeting on Tuesday.

Approval by the commissioners is crucial, Gavarrete said, because if they give the go ahead now "it is a minimum of three to four months from there to get the traffic signal installed and operating."

Three to four months from now, the new elementary school will open.

"We are recommending a full traffic light there because once the school opens we expect a large increase in traffic at that intersection," Gavarrete said.

Even with the county commissioners' approval on Tuesday, he added, "we'll be pushing it to get it in before the new school opens."

Gavarrete also is recommending adding three turning lanes: a left turn lane on each of the approaches to the intersection on Memorial Drive, and a left turn lane on the eastbound approach on Valerie.

The cost estimate for adding the three turning lanes is about $400,000 Gavarrete said.

"But that depends on how the bids come in," he added. "It should be done in time before the school opens, but that depends too, on the contract and the contractor."

If rising petroleum prices keep rising, the price of asphalt as well as of gasoline and diesel fuel will rise, he said.

Gavarrete said his staff is not ready to go to the commissioners for the turning-lane project yet, but they plan to do so in time to get the turning lanes in before school opens.