Plans take shape to widen U.S. 17

Design for DeLeon to Barberville is 60 percent complete

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Feb 28, 2009 - 6:37:42pm

Although the state lacks cash for many road projects, the Florida Department of Transportation is gearing up to widen almost seven miles of U.S. Highway 17 in Northwest Volusia.

Plans call for U.S. 17 — between Ponce DeLeon Boulevard and State Road 40 in Barberville — to become a divided four-lane road.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) hired C3TS Engineers, Architects, and Planners Inc., of Orlando, to help design the wider road.

The project isn't targeted for stimulus funding.

"I don't think this is on the list," said C3TS project manager Joe Keezel, referring to the $787 billion economic-recovery bill passed by the Congress and signed by President Obama in late February.

Keezel said designing the widening began about a year ago and is now about 60 percent complete. It is scheduled for completion later in 2009 and will be ready to go if or when funds for buying right of way and construction become available.

The design costs just under $3.5 million. The FDOT has not estimated the cost of right of way, but the current construction estimate is $52 million.

Building two 12-foot lanes in each direction, separated by a 40-foot median, is supposed to improve safety in the affected stretch of U.S. 17, especially as traffic increases on the road.

In 2007, that section of U.S. 17 carried an average of 9,800 vehicles a day, the FDOT said. The agency projects that number will rise to 17,400 vehicles a day in 2030.

Transportation planners had considered shifting the alignment of U.S. 17 at S.R. 40, by moving the intersection approximately 150 feet east. That was supposed to provide a greater separation between the road and the CSX Railroad track that is almost parallel with U.S. 17. Those plans have been dropped, according to Keezel.

The planned four-laning will actually extend approximately 1,500 feet north of S.R. 40, as the four lanes of U.S. 17 are tapered to two lanes.

The rather narrow two-lane highway through Northwest Volusia concerns Volusia County leaders, who fear there will be a big increase in heavy trucks on U.S. 17 and other rural roads in the area if Wal-Mart builds a distribution center in South Putnam County.

The discount retailer plans a warehouse and trucking complex — which would receive and ship food and other merchandise to Wal-Mart's retail stores over a wide area — just across the Putnam County line near Crescent City.

The proposed Wal-Mart distribution center may put as many 800 or 900 freight-laden 18-wheelers onto U.S. 17 southbound, each day, seven days a week, according to Volusia County officials.

While the segment of U.S. 17 between DeLeon Springs and Barberville may be four-laned sometime in the future, there is no date for widening the highway between State Road 40 and the Volusia-Putnam line.

The plans to improve the highway will enhance safety for wildlife, as well as people.

In addition to new lanes, a wider U.S. 17 will include new stormwater-retention ponds and a new bridge over Deep Creek.

"The one there now will be demolished," Keezel said.

The FDOT proposes to make Deep Creek, under the roadway, a wildlife corridor, to keep animals off the road and out of traffic.

"There have been a couple of bear kills in the last couple of years," Keezel said.

Designing the wildlife corridor began a few years ago, said David Cooke, the FDOT's project manager.

"During the PD&E [project development and engineering] phase, the wildlife corridor was worked out with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," he explained.

The FDOT completed its development-and-engineering study in September 2006. Designing the four-lane road is the next step.

If or when U.S. 17 is four-laned all the way from DeLeon Springs to Putnam County, the now-rural character of Northwest Volusia could change.

"It would make a demand for more intense development, yes," former Volusia County Growth and Resource Management Director Montye Beamer said.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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