City, county discuss partnering on U.S. 90 project

MILTON — The U.S. Highway 90 lane widening project was discussed by council members at their Nov. 12, meeting. While the subject is not new, the council’s approach to the Florida Department of Transportation project may be.

“The council has voted in the past against the four-lane expansion through the downtown area,” said Milton City Manager Randy Jorgenson. “We need a solution to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.”

Jorgenson wants to find alternatives that meet the needs of residents and FDOT. One suggestion is to be proactive and go through the process of selecting a design firm to create plans that preserves the historical aspects and buildings clustered in downtown Milton if and when the highway is widened.

The reality is the city council can tell everyone the do not want the expansion through downtown Milton, but the council does not oversee that section of U.S. 90, The Florida Department of Transportation does.

According to Jorgenson, it took FDOT years and an estimated $1.6 million to complete their Project Development and Environment studies. The studies were completed in April of this year in two parts.

The first PD&E study was for widening U.S. 90 from the Escambia County line to Glover Lane. The second study encompassed U.S. 90 from Glover Lane to State Road 87 South.

The completed 5,000 page engineering report recommended the use of the existing corridor, including the widening of U.S. 90.

“Even on a regional level, use of the existing corridor is not inappropriate,” Jorgenson said.

At a recent meeting at Tiger Point, the Transportation Planning Organization said their intent was to use the existing corridor.

According to the FDOT website, the study’s goal was to find out if it was feasible to widen the U.S. 90 to provide additional east-west capacity alternatives to Interstate 10. The study found that additional roadway capacity is needed to strengthen U.S. 90 as an east-west corridor alternative to I-10 to increase roadway volumes for motorists traveling between Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties and for emergency evacuation purposes.

Ian Satter, public information director for FDOT, said the projects do not yet have funding for design or construction, which he anticipates could happen sometime in 2023.

According to Jorgenson, it was the Riverfront Redevelopment Team and Community Redevelopment Agency’s desire to get help from the county to complete preliminary design work before FDOT received their funding for design and construction in 2023.

Jorgenson estimated preliminary design work will cost $100,000 and would take a year to complete the process. Although the city has not officially asked for the county’s help, initial conversations with District 2 Commissioner Bob Cole indicate a willingness to split the cost of the design plan with the city.

“This has been done successfully in other communities,” Jorgenson said. “If the collaboration happens, we can tell and show FDOT (when they decide to widen U.S. 90) this is the design we find desirable.

“There is considerable history going back to the 1980’s on this project,” Jorgenson added.

Throughout that time, city and county leadership has been uniform and consistent in its opposition to the lane expansion of U.S. 90 in Milton’s historic downtown district and FDOT is aware of that fact, Jorgenson said.

“Ultimately, we need to take our time, be prudent, make sure things are done right and do what is in our best interest from a financial perspective,” Jorgenson said.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: City, county discuss partnering on U.S. 90 project