OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Marion County’s exponential growth comes with its own series of challenges. One of them is the constant struggle to accommodate the additional traffic.
Much of the discussion from concerned citizens centers on a need for more interchanges, and more overpasses, to make travel more seamless within the county. The Marion County Office of the County Engineer is doing its part to make things more commuter friendly.
“One of the needs that we have identified is connecting the east side to the south side, just south of 484,” said Steven Cohoon, Marion County engineer.
This would be a little bit south of Belleview. CR 42 is the next major east-west road, just north of the Sumter County/Marion County line, said Cohoon.
“We get a lot of traffic on 301,” said Cohoon. “People that need to go to the west side of the county, they can either do it in Sumter County, or they have to continue north on 301 and come into Marion County, go past 42, onto 484 and then go to the west. Some traffic does use 42 to get north, but you still have to go through the 484 interchange. We know that traffic backs up all the way to the east, and it backs up all the way to the west. There’s not a lot of capacity on 484 to handle all of the traffic.”
However, there are projects that will help ease the congestion, providing commuters with additional options, reducing some of the traffic that makes traveling less than pleasant at times.
“I think a lot of those people coming from the north, who want to go back to the west are still going to use 484,” said Cohoon. “But this new interchange is going to take a lot of the pressure from people who are coming from the east, and from the south off of 484. Every time something happens on I-75, everybody isn’t going to dump to 484, there’s now going to be an opportunity on 475 to take 42 across and through Marion Oaks and then start utilizing this parallel corridor of SW 49th Ave. parallel to I-75 or leaving I-75 or leaving some of the congestion on 484. You’ll be able to take 49th from Heathbrook all the way to Marion Oaks Manor and then continue back to the east all the way to 301 and never get on I-75 or 484.”
Work in progress
Strategic planning plays a critical role in making things happen, and innovative methods are helping to build a smarter and more sustainable infrastructure. However, complex concepts do take time to progress from vision into a reality. There are a number of components involved, and things are not going to be happening at the speed of sound.
“It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but the silver lining is, we’re thinking of different ways to deliver,” said Cohoon. “This is one of those examples. You have to follow certain federal requirements when you cross a federal road, so you have what we call a PD&E type of study (A Project Development and Environment Study is conducted to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act). During the study, we determine the location and conceptual design of feasible build alternatives for roadway improvements and their social, economic and environmental effects. That study of right-of-way impacts in and around I-75 is going to be completed by the end of this calendar year, 2026.”
Traditionally, the study would be completed, a few months would elapse, and then the design would be completed. It’s going to take you another year and a half on this kind of project, said Cohoon. Then with the design finished, the county would concentrate on right-of-way acquisition, then move into construction, and that’s going to be another two years on a project this size. The traditional process is extremely regimented, going step by step.
“What we’re doing and how we’re trying to think outside of the box, is how do we expedite this project,” said Cohoon. “And when you get to a project that’s anywhere from a $50 million to a $70 million project like this, you have some other tools in the toolbox. Outside of your traditional designed bid build, you can do a design build project. So, that’s what we’re looking to do here. We’re wrapping up the study. We’re actually doing a very loose 30 percent design. That should be finished the same time that my study is finished at the end of this calendar year.
“I can advertise that 30 percent design, put it out on the street for a design build project. That’s where a contractor and a design team, team up instead of me taking it on as the county, they’ll team up, and they can design and build concurrently, shaving years off of the project. They’re designing, they’re building and they’re acquiring the right-of-way in conjunction–with them we’re taking a seven, eight, nine-year project and condensing it down to a three-year project. That is one of the ways that we’re trying to think outside the box, using all the tools in the toolbox.”
This enables the county to open up some things in a strategic way, giving contractors certain areas they can work in, and certain areas they can’t, said Cohoon.
“We’ve got a couple of properties that we’ve already purchased that we know will be beneficial for drainage retention areas,” said Cohoon. “You don’t have to do an eight-year process to release my contractor to start doing some work in those areas. A lot of concurrent activities can happen and streamline that process.”
There is a great deal of coordination that happens with these projects, with different stakeholders, community meetings, and there are very large property owners in the county that have very powerful attorneys that the county builds relationships with, said Cohoon.
“We try to create win-wins with everybody,” he said. “But there’s absolutely a lot of coordination that has to happen. It’s not as simple as let me draw it up, let me take whatever I need and let me go build it. That’s not the business we’re in. It’s building relationships. How do we get to the finish line together and create win-wins for everybody. That includes all of our stakeholders, the cities, power companies, utilities. There’s a lot that goes into it.”