With the groundbreaking in Davenport of the Power Line Road northern extension project last month, motorists rejoiced at the potential for quicker commutes.
Of many private-public, developer-constructed road projects, Power Line Road is possibly the largest in Polk County history, according to Polk County land development director John Bohde, at least during his time with the county.
And perhaps more importantly for motorists, the plan is to extend Power Line from U.S. 17/92 in Davenport to Scenic Highway 17 in Dundee — providing that long-coveted alternative to U.S. 27.
The Power Line Road Extension Phase 1 groundbreaking was held April 5 at Lewis Mathews Sports Complex with federal, state and local elected officials as well as residents in attendance.
In addition to Davenport’s mayor and commission members, a photo on Davenport’s website shows state Sen. Colleen Burton and Reps. Josie Tomkow and Sam Killebrew as well as County Commissioner Neil Combee. U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, also was present.
Regarding Phase 1, Davenport City Manager Kelly Callihan said by phone Tuesday, “We feel like it'll be huge for Davenport because there's so much traffic currently in Davenport.”
U.S. 27 and U.S. 17/92 are already full of traffic, so a new roadway to expand capacity, such as the Power Line Road project, is expected to give drivers another north-south road to 17/92, he said.
Traffic often drives through the city from the Poinciana and Haines City areas trying to go north, Callihan said.
“This would push them further north,” he said. “We get so much traffic that is just trying to go north of our city. They won't have to cut through our city and can just stay on Power Line.”
Callihan said the northern segment of the new road is expected to be ready to carry vehicles in 300 days from the groundbreaking. The alignment will cut through Lewis W. Mathews Memorial Sports Complex, and displaced fields will be replaced at another location.
Power Line Road to become four lanes
The Phase 1 northern extension will be a new four-lane road between South Boulevard and U.S. 17/92, about 1.1 miles. Polk County is paying for this segment 100%, and the Cassidy organization is constructing it, Bohde said. Its price tag is $10.8 million, which included $2.7 million in impact fees.
Regarding the widening of the existing Power Line Road from South Boulevard to Hinson, that project is still in design, and it will be late this year or early next year before the county has full design plans. It will require additional funding for construction along with right-of-way acquisition.
“There are certainly other road projects throughout the county that receive attention and funding, but many are long-term road projects, such as Kathleen Road ” or County Road 557 coming out of Lake Alfred, Bohde said.
Private road building by developers occurs every day as new residential subdivisions are built, Bohde said, referring to such projects as turn lanes and streets within subdivisions. But these are smaller scale compared to the Power Line Road project.
"When Polk County partners with developers for road improvements, they provide their proportionate share of the impacts," he said. "If Polk County believes it is beneficial for the developer to go above and beyond to provide improvements, the county will reimburse the developer through cash or impact fee credits subject to county commission approval."
That long southern extension
The southern extension of Power Line Road would run from Hinson Avenue south to Scenic Highway 17 in Dundee. But funding for this part appears to be a long way off.
“This project will provide an alternate route to Hwy 27 for local traffic,” Franklin wrote. “Moving local traffic to an alternative roadway creates more capacity on Highway 27 to move commerce through this area.”
The federal government has contributed $7.5 million toward the project, he said, and the project is on Polk County Transportation Planning Organization’s long-range plan and the Florida Department of Transportation Highway 27 Mobility Study.
But during the County Commission planning retreat in March, Combee said they were told the cost of the southern extension could be $309 million.
Commissioner George Lindsey also put it in sobering terms.
"It is a great public private partnership along with some federal grant dollars, but all monies to date only cover phase one of three," he said. "To complete phase two and three will take another $260 million, of which not one dime is available."
Cassidy private road projects
Several attempts to reach a representative of the Cassidy-run land development company by phone were unsuccessful.
Bohde said these agreements are “good government” and public-private-partnership agreements allow the advancement of these projects more rapidly and cheaper through a combination of cash and transportation impact fee credits.
“Regarding the impact fee credits, typically the developer, which is who performs the work, provides the credits to the builder,” he said. “Then when impact fees are due, the builder produces a voucher, provided by our office, for the transportation impact fee.”
Each agreement allows the credits to be used for up to 10 years and they are transferrable to an adjacent impact fee district per Florida law.
By phone last week, Combee said one reason developers want to build roads is because the county rarely builds roads. He recalled Ernie Caldwell Boulevard as an example of the last new county road project, which was built 20 years ago.
“It’s a rare occurrence of the county building a new road,” Combee said. About Power Line Road, he added, ”The county didn’t have the same motivation as the developer.”
Correction
An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of John Bohde, Polk County's director of the office of planning and development. It also listed an outdated title for Bohde. Further, the price tag for the Phase 1 northern extension of Power Line Road was $10.8 million when taking into consideration $2.7 million in impact fees.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Power Line Road extension is Polk County's largest developer-constructed road project
Most Popular
Comments / 0