PCB Highway Construction Takes Off
By Ed Offley The orange traffic signs are up everywhere on the Panama City Beach “island.” Don’t expect their removal anytime soon. From Clara Avenue to the Lake Powell Bridge in unincorporated Bay County, the Panama City Beach Parkway (US 98) this month has turned into a ten-mile construction zone as the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) launches a multi-year widening of the roadway from four to six lanes in addition to interim road improvements west of SR 79. Meanwhile, the Panama City Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has begun work to elevate and improve Alf Coleman Road between the parkway and Hutchinson Boulevard which will result in the closure of the street to through traffic for the next ten months. For both FDOT and the CRA, this is only the tip of the iceberg. City and state highway officials are beginning what promises to be at least a decade of disruption and traffic congestion throughout the “island” as they carry out a multi-million-dollar series of projects aimed at curing the area’s worsening gridlock. Designed for a capacity of 45,000 vehicles each day, the four-lane parkway linking Walton County and Panama City regularly experiences daily peak traffic exceeding 80,000 vehicles. “We needed this project five or more years ago,” Mayor Mark Sheldon told PCB Life earlier this year. “Panama City Beach Parkway is over its capacity, and it has been for some time. Two additional lanes are desperately needed to enable traffic to keep flowing.” The initial phase of the...
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