CALLAWAY — The Florida Department of Transportation’s tentative plan for State 22 is to widen the highway by four lanes and to connect its eastbound section with a left-turning flyover from Tyndall Parkway.
The flyover, a center lane between two lanes each of southbound and northbound traffic on Tyndall, would begin at Martin Court and extend about a ¼ mile through the area where a CVS store is located now well past the Alamo Money Mart on the south side of the street.
“I’m happy to see that DOT is taking a thorough look at an in depth plan,” Callaway City Manager Michael Fuller said. “The traffic on 22 is bad. Turning out of City Hall at rush hour, you’ll be sitting there awhile.”
FDOT is in the very first stages of this project with a planning, development and environmental study scheduled for completion in 2015, design lasting 18 to 24 months, right-of-way acquisition scheduled to take place from 2016 to 2020 and construction beginning in 2026.
“Some of us won’t be around when this goes through,” resident David Griggs said. “I’d be 91. Maybe I’d still be driving.”
The department has yet to select engineers for design or construction. Public information officer Ian Satter was not sure how tall the flyover would be, much less the location of all the retention ponds or other drainage measures.
FDOT is projecting the total project cost to be $57.9 million: $34 million in construction, $15.4 in right-of-way acquisition and $8.5 million in design. Little Butterflies Child Care would be forced to move on State 22. CVS, The Water Spigot and possibly the AMVET Post off Tyndall might have to move. One residence, 301 Gay Ave. North, would be affected. Most of the 92 parcels of right-of way-acquisition would be clip corners, where only a section of the property would be affected.
Julian Hunt, owner of Naju Boarding and Grooming on State 22, was concerned with medians on 22, separating the four lanes of traffic. He compared the road to State 77 in Panama City and how medians there negatively affected businesses.
“We’ll lose jobs,” he said. “People aren’t going to turn around to come back; that’s just not convenient. The people here are paying for the highway. How will we pay for the highway if we’re out of business?”
Johnny Carrell and Martha Lee each had concerns about drainage. Lee said her area of the highway has flooded since it was reconfigured in 2000.
Gary Dawes was concerned about noise. FDOT officials said there will not be sound walls.
“Highway will be close to the house. It already sounds like it’s in my living room,” Dawes said. “But, I’m not ready to run to the mountains yet.”
FDOT did present two plans, although they declared one plan unviable. The other plan would include widening Tyndall to accommodate three left turn lanes onto east State 22. Satter said the right-of-way costs on both the north and south sides of Tyndall would cost too much for the department. It is an example of how the department is willing to reconfigure a plan.
“That’s the reason to have the meeting tonight so we can get comments,” Satter said.
Satter said the section of State 22 from Tyndall to Star Avenue has a D level of service rating on an A-F scale. He said the street currently receives 10,000 to 17,000 cars per day, which it can handle. By 2025, Satter expects that number to double or triple.
“We want to get ahead of it,” he said.
The FDOT is soliciting written comments and suggestions through Dec. 22 at sherry.alaghemand@dot.fl.us.