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Corps hears comments on Stretch plan
BY TRAVIS JAMES
TRITTEN
keysnews.com
A public comment
period began this week for proposed improvements to the 18-Mile Stretch,
a controversial two-lane section of U.S. 1 connecting the Florida Keys
to the mainland.
The state Department
of Transportation plans to widen the roadway, place a barrier between
northbound and southbound traffic, and replace a drawbridge over Jewfish
Creek with a larger, fixed-span bridge -- a project the state says will
improve safety and hurricane evacuation.
The proposal is now
being reviewed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which could approve
or reject the project.
"We will assess what
kind of comment we get," said John Studt, chief of the Corps' South
Permits Branch.
Some residents and
environmental groups say the changes will create more accidents and hurt
the environment.
The mostly two-lane
stretch of highway, one of only two roads connecting the Keys to
mainland Florida, has long been a source of debate over traffic safety
and the heavy flow of visitors who help fuel the local economy.
The Corps will keep
the proposal posted on its Web site for 30 days but does not have any
plans to hold public forums in the islands to discuss the proposed
project, Studt said.
Any such public
meetings will depend on public reaction to the plan, which is posted
under the public notices section of the permitting section of the Corps
Web site, www.saj.usace.army.mil.
The plan calls for two
12-foot travel lanes with six-foot inside shoulders and a concrete
barrier between lanes, according to DOT spokeswoman Alice Bravo. A paved
10-foot northbound shoulder would be used as a second outbound lane
during emergency evacuations. Six feet of a 10-foot southbound shoulder
would be paved.
The Jewfish Creek
Bridge would be replaced with a mile-long fixed-span bridge. The
causeway at the south end would be replaced with a bridge structure to
restore tidal flow from Lake Surprise, according to Bravo.
Upper Keys resident
John Hammerstrom said he will submit a letter opposing the highway
renovation because the DOT argument for safety and hurricane evacuation
is "deeply flawed and spurious."
"They [DOT] have
convinced the public that building a new road will in and of itself
increase safety," Hammerstrom said. "I believe there will be more
accidents because there will be more things [such as the concrete
barriers] to hit."
The project could also
encourage more traffic into the Keys and that increase could mean more
accidents throughout the islands, he said.
ttritten@keysnews.com |
