PANAMA CITY — More than a decade of traffic issues on the Hathaway Bridge are set to get some relief.
Over the next two years, the Florida Department of Transportation will spend $102 million on the final leg of a massive, decade-spanning series of projects aimed at easing the flow of traffic over the Hathaway Bridge. However, despite the presence of FDOT workers at times, designs only are about 90 percent complete and commuters on Bay County’s busiest road will not see construction at the bridge’s eastern base begin until summer 2015.
Design plans are expected to be final shortly after a July public comment meeting, FDOT spokesman Ian Satter said.
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“If we have a lot of people with concerns about a certain aspect of the project, we can go back and see if there is anything we can tweak,” he said. “We don’t want to come to people with 100 percent of plans complete without their input.”
Although some aspects of the project could change, at complete build-out neither traffic lights nor train arrivals to Port Panama City will impede the flow of traffic from one side of the Hathaway Bridge to the other.
Ultimately, the project will elevate parts of U.S. 98 so it bypasses the 23rd Street intersection, the railroad crossing at Port Panama City and traffic lights at Gulf Coast State College. Motorists heading west from 23rd Street also will be able to merge onto U.S. 98 without interference — and vice-versa.
The stretch of road leading from the Hathaway to 23rd Street will be expanded to four lanes.
The final project relieving congestion across the Hathaway does not come cheap, though. Engineering and construction costs in 2014 will run about $7 million, and FDOT will spend almost $95 million hiring contractors in 2015. Then construction can begin in late summer of 2015.
FDOT has secured all property required for the project, and some businesses along the south shoulder of U.S. 98, east of the Hathaway, will remain open until spring of 2015, Satter said.
Phase I of construction consists of not just the westbound ramps and roadways from 23rd Street and U.S. 98, but also an alternate lane for U.S. 98 during construction. Phase II is the construction of the eastbound ramps and roadways leading away from the Hathaway.
The construction of the Hathaway’s first flyover — where Thomas Drive, Front Beach Drive and Panama City Parkway all converge — reached completion in 2007 after four years of construction. Completion of the final portion is expected in 2019.
Traffic issues until then are expected to vary throughout construction with the contractor designing plans to mitigate traffic obstacles and FDOT alerting the public beforehand.
“We want to make sure we maximize lane availability; but with a project of this magnitude, there will be a lot of construction and different traffic alignments,” Satter said. FDOT “will do our best to let people know about changes, but obviously there will be several changes to traffic patterns.”