FDOT hears feedback on parkway plans // MAP

SPRINGFIELD — Florida Department of Transportation officials held the second public hearing Thursday evening on a proposal to build a new highway between Gulf and Bay counties intended to ease mobility and increase tourism.

About 100 people showed up to the Springfield Community Center to hear engineering consultants explain the details of the Gulf Coast Parkway as they are currently understood. The format and presentation were the same as another public hearing held two days earlier in Port St. Joe, said FDOT spokeswoman Donna Green.

FDOT’s primary interest at the meeting was soliciting feedback from interested parties, Green said. The project is still years away from the beginning of construction.

Attendees were able to view maps and charts detailing the possible routes being explored, as well as the anticipated costs and impacts of each route. The possibility of building nothing also is under consideration.

After considering the environmental, social and economic impacts of five potential routes, FDOT recommends a route that connects U.S. 98 in Mexico Beach with U.S. 231 at Nehi Road. The same route garnered the most public preference votes in 2011, according to FDOT literature.

Neighbors Hubert Baxley and Alvey Stanley said FDOT can’t move fast enough to satisfy them.

They’re not too concerned about nuisances that come with increased traffic because the current plans don’t call for access to their neighborhood from the road. What excites them about the proposal is its potential to relieve stormwater drainage problems in the area.

“If they’re going to build something through there, they’re going to have to drain it,” Stanley said.

Others voiced concern that the parkway would increase traffic and congestion at the northern end of the line, and some worried the road would lead to urban encroachment on the rural area.

Kent Wimmer, the Northwest Florida representative for Defenders of Wildlife, recommended that FDOT pursue an alternative that would push the route through western Gulf County rather than eastern Bay County. Better yet, Wimmer said, just don’t build anything.

Wimmer said he hasn’t seen any evidence the road would have a positive impact on tourism in Gulf County, which is one its stated goals.

“It’s based on a build-it-and-they-will-come’ philosophy,” Wimmer said.

Green hoped people who could not attend the hearings this week would take the opportunity to provide feedback at gulfcoastparkway.com before the public comment period expires on May 23.

“We want to remind people that their comments are very important,” Green said.