Lakeland Unveils Latest Designs for South Florida Avenue, But Struggle Looms Over $22 Million Cost

It has been four years since concrete barriers were installed along South Florida Avenue between Lime and Ariana streets, converting that mile from five too-narrow lanes to three standard-sized ones — to the dismay of many drivers.

And it has been 16 months since Lakeland’s City Commission voted to recommend to the Florida Department of Transportation that the three-lane configuration be made permanent — clearing the way for a longer-term transformation of the corridor into a pedestrian-friendly destination with wide sidewalks, shade trees and historic charm.

Since the December 2022 vote, city staffers have been consulting with their state counterparts to determine the scope of the project. Lakeland engineers recently completed a “concept plan” — the first part of a project’s design — which they presented to FDOT officials Monday morning.

Construction, including removal of the barriers, is tentatively slated to start in 2027 and be completed sometime in 2029, according to city officials. But statements from FDOT District 1 Secretary L.K. Nandam last week have raised concerns about the state’s willingness to pay for reconstruction of the road it owns.

And the combination of constituent complaints, long timelines and a looming funding struggle has some city commissioners openly wondering if they were misled when the project was first proposed, and if there are any less-ambitious options that would get the road done faster.

A ‘concept plan’ for South Florida Avenue

Lakeland Public Works Engineering Manager Ryan Lazenby said the concept plan was generated primarily to develop cost estimates and wasn’t created with benefit of survey or design services. At the meeting Monday, Lazenby and representatives from FDOT discussed finalizing the “scope of services” so the design phase can be put out to bid.

Lazenby said that the project is expected to cost “$22 million in present-day dollars for construction, which includes the roadway, signals, drainage system and aesthetic items.” And the city expects to advertise it to prospective design consultants in about three months.

Before sketching a vision of what the 16-block corridor will look like, Lazenby told LkldNow that he and his staff reviewed all the public meetings held about the South Florida Avenue “road diet” since 2017 and incorporated information and feedback provided by the public.

Starting with satellite images, Lazenby’s team overlaid them with the new design to create rough renderings of each block and intersection. The resulting plan includes stamped-concrete sidewalks with red brick trim that extend out to where the concrete barriers are now, decorative street lamps, trees in box planters, and streetlights with green turn arrows.

He said the concept plan is by no means a final product and he expects adjustments and changes. But the plan, shared below, is a starting point for the full design, which will take about 18 months to complete.

“So they’re to scale and we draw right on top of that,” Lazenby said. “It’s not on survey data, but it’s plus or minus a foot, so we can get pretty close … we know where the driveways are, we know where the curb lines are and the right-of-way are and we actually drew a concept. We do that because then I can say, ‘Okay, how much six-inch concrete am I going to have to do the driveways? How many curb ramps am I going to have to replace? How much curb am I going to have to install?’”

He said city staffers had to coordinate with FDOT’s district managers, a design engineer, a land surveyor and a right-of-way manager, among others, to all understand the intricacies of each part of the roadway and also what’s running underneath it and alongside it.

Lazenby explained that FDOT has a cost list that is updated every six months and is used to estimate every detail of a project, including underground utilities, asphalt paving, concrete driveways, streetlight poles and sod.

“At this point, we’ve had preliminary discussions with DOT related to budget deliveries, specifically design, and we’ve developed cost estimates for design, construction, and what we call CEI, which is construction, engineering, inspection,” Lazenby said.

FDOT engineers recently ran a small camera through pipes under the road and discovered infrastructure in some areas that are a century old. Lazenby and city Communications Director Kevin Cook said they often find clay pipes — state of the art technology in the 1920s — that long ago outlived their life expectancy. Some stormwater pipes have small holes or leaks and the city is working to update them as budgets allow. They can either line those pipes with a durable insulation or replace them with concrete pipes.

Meeting with FDOT raises questions about funding

City commissioners met with Florida Department of Transportation District 1 Secretary L.K. Nandam last week in a public meeting facilitated by the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce.

During the meeting, commissioners politely, but pointedly, asked when the project would be finished, and some were shocked to learn that the state expects the city to pay a significant part of the project — possibly as much as 50% of the final bill.

Cook said the city has always expected to fund the design phase and aesthetic enhancements for the corridor. But the city expected FDOT to take responsibility for most of the basic infrastructure such as stormwater utility work, standard sidewalk reconstruction and roadway resurfacing.

Mayor Bill Mutz told LkldNow on Tuesday that they knew the city would have to contribute some funding when they voted. However, when the city agreed to contribute funding early in the project’s life, the costs were significantly less.

“We reflected a willingness early on to participate at some level,” Mutz said. “Meanwhile, costs rose and continue to rise, and there was a delay in making a decision on engineering required and getting started … Truly, I think the problem is we are looking for someone to blame and the reality is, we must remain good partners to accomplish this important work together without pointing fingers in the meantime and just get it done.”

Mutz said the city and the state need to “move forward as deliberately as possible while we shorten the overall timeframe required by accomplishing other concurrent and addressable needs within the engineering timeframe. As we do so, we will be able to identify funding required by both parties as optimally as possible. If we pursue this course vigorously, we can address two other north-south corridors and their construction needs in the interim, and be ready to break ground on the lane realignment in 2026.”

History

City Transportation and Development Manager Chuck Barmby said the inception of the road diet project began as early as 2001, just after the Community Redevelopment Agency was established in Lakeland.

The city started conducting traffic counts and then speaking with FDOT officials to figure out what everyone wanted to do with that stretch of roadway to make it safer and also increase the economic impact on local businesses. He said the efforts started and stopped several times, but then picked up momentum again in September 2014, when the CRA wrote to FDOT.

“From that, DOT actually programmed the master plan that was started in 2016 and finished in 2017 to get the input from the neighborhood, the business owners,” Barmby said.

Studies were done showing a number of issues:

• Speeding
• Poor drainage
• Substandard curbs
• Substandard Americans with Disabilities Act sidewalks
• Tripping hazards
• No bus stop shelters
• Narrow sidewalks
• Excessive driveways
• Overgrown vegetation

The city gathered public input in February and March 2017 — interviewing stakeholders, hosting public meetings and holding a weeklong design studio and one-day charrette in a storefront on the corridor. On May 1 that year, the commission passed a resolution making that stretch of road a priority.

The road was narrowed from five lanes to three over five months, starting in April 2020. Concrete barriers were installed at a cost of $950,000 and were only supposed to remain for about a year as part of a “test,” while data was collected on traffic counts, travel times and vehicle types.

But then FDOT said returning to the original five-lane configuration was not an option because the 9.5-foot lanes were too narrow and did not comply with current state requirements. The city could choose to widen the sidewalks and have three lanes, or return South Florida Avenue to its former boundaries but as a four-lane road with no center turn lane.

The city again sought public input, conducting a survey and hosting a forum at the RP Funding Center in April 2022. In December of that year, the City Commission voted 4-1 to recommend that FDOT maintain the three-lane configuration, with two travel lanes and a center turn/median lane. Then-Commissioner Samuel Simmons cast the lone vote against the measure after listening to concerned constituents. Commissioners Mike Musick and Bill Read were not present.

“This has really been kind of, really been a partnership, because DOT has been great to work with from the very beginning,” Barmby said. “The challenge has always been this isn’t a standard corridor. This is so unique. (DOT hasn’t) tried anything like this with any other corridor in the state, you know, and so what can we do? So that’s why there’s been so much discussion, so much analysis.”

Splitting the $22 million bill?

The meeting facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce last week revealed that, although city and FDOT staffers have been working closely on technical elements of the project, leaders of the two entities have different visions of how it will be funded.

Some commissioners seemed surprised to learn that Nandam expects the city to partner with the state financially to pay for about half of the redesign and construction of that one mile of South Florida Avenue.

“What we need from the city is what kind of investment you can bring?” Nandam said. “We need some involvement from the city and then we need to figure out if we have the capacity.  That conversation should happen after design … Partnership with the city and the state is going to be very critical.”

The FDOT’s current on-line, five-year work program shows that in fiscal year 2024, $1.3 million is programmed for preliminary engineering and $1.05 million is programmed for right-of-way acquisition. An additional $700,000 is listed for right of way acquisition in FY 2025 and $14.68 million is programmed for construction in FY 2026. 

To date, the city has budgeted $2 million from the Community Redevelopment Agency, which includes design and other functions.

Lazenby said the state won’t be buying any buildings with the right-of-way money, but they might need a strip of grass here or there to realign and straighten sidewalks.

Commissioner Sarah Roberts McCarley told Nandam last Monday that State Road 37 — also known as Florida Avenue — is a state highway and the state should fully fund the project. Like several other commissioners, she serves on the Polk County Transportation Planning Organization.

Nandam pushed back, saying that because the project was community-initiated, the community must contribute to the cost.

“We own the roadway, we own the facility,” Nandam said. “It should be a 100% investment from the department, but community-centered projects bring community investment.”

City Commissioner Guy LaLonde, Jr., who joined the commission in January, voiced his frustration that FDOT wouldn’t fully pay for improvements to its own roadway.

“I feel like we’ve been taken to the prom and then left at the doorstep without a corsage,” LaLonde said.  “How do you get to the dance?”

Nandam also explained that much of FDOT’s budget is going toward resurfacing projects throughout the state to maintain roadways. But, he added, the cost of asphalt has gone up by 50%, which is eating into their budget. 

“Preservation is the number one priority.  When we are required to address preservation and the funding I get goes to resurfacing, that limits us,” Nandam said. “Our surfacing program has ballooned to the point that we are slated to resurface 100% more miles each year for next five years.”

He said the cost of those resurfacing projects is $1.2 billion. And he pointed out that several other District 1 projects have been funded, including a widening of I-4 from U.S. Highway 27 to Champions Gate, along with the State Road 33 interchange at I-4.

Commissioner Bill “Tiger” Read said the funding isn’t there from the city.

“The short answer is, no, we don’t have the money and we’re not sure when we’re going to get the money,” Read said.  “People are shooting off into smaller roads, we’re having to get speed bumps on smaller roads, I think there’s more accidents … there’s more smaller fender benders.  Maybe not deaths but more accidents.”

Failed half-cent sales tax

Read, known for his frugality, was also frustrated Polk County Commissioners failed to put a half-cent sales tax for road projects on the November ballot, particularly since Polk County is the fastest growing metro area in the entire country.

“We could generate $220 million, but the county didn’t want to put it on a referendum and we’re trying to do it ourselves and we missed the opportunity because of time frames,” Read said, noting the city had briefly discussed doing its own tax and putting it on the November ballot for a vote, but the City Commission had hoped the county would come through. 

County Commissioner George Lindsey had proposed last July a half-cent sales tax that would have been placed on consumer goods for 20 years. It would have raised an estimated $2.076 billion for the county, with its 17 municipalities splitting 28% of that. Lakeland would have reaped an estimated $219.6 million — the most of any of the cities in Polk County — with Winter Haven following at $92.3 million.

But Lindsey could not convince his fellow commissioners, some of whom are up for re-election, to place the initiative on the November ballot. And, he said last wek, there isn’t enough time for a citizens’ petition drive to put it on the ballot, the deadline for which is May 1.

“I’m frustrated that we haven’t been able to get a dedicated funding source to address the kinds of issues that the city of Lakeland and every city in the county is facing — and the county,” Lindsey said.  “I’m not sure what the tab is for the city to correct the road diet, but wherever those dollars come from, they’re going to be diverting dollars away from other potential road projects in the city.”

Lindsey said he hears constant complaints about traffic and that the people should be able to vote on whether they want a half-cent sales tax to fund improved or new roadways.

“What we’re trying to do is avoid further decline in the level of service,” Lindsey said.  “Polk County added 80-plus thousand people in the last three years and not having mechanism to accommodate transportation, I think, is short-sighted. Now the fact of the matter is I’ve got 216 days left in office. There’s not much I can do about it.”

When asked if the city could place its own half-cent sales tax on the November ballot, Mutz said no.

A search for private-sector partners

Lazenby said there is a possibility that money for other projects that’s no longer needed could possibly be shifted to the road diet.

“I don’t want to paint too much of a rosy picture, but some of those dollars we’ve committed to (State Road) 33 have certain handcuffs on. I think we can figure something out, it’s just going to take some time.”

Nandam encouraged the city to find a possible private partner to help defray costs, a solution that is not unprecedented.

Cook said through a development agreement, the city partnered with Bridgewater developers to advance the first phase of the State Road 33 widening, south of Old Combee Road, that was completed in 2013.  The developers pre-paid impact fees that were subsequently credited with future development. 

More recently, the city executed a development agreement with Lakeland Central Park representatives to fully fund intersection improvements on County Line Road at US 92 and on U.S. 92 at Wabash Avenue, which were completed in the past two years. The developer received impact fee credits with the issuance of future building permits. 

“Both of those examples are in more suburban locations that accommodated larger-scale development,” Cook said. “Unfortunately, we don’t see opportunities to receive such funding arrangements in Dixieland and Downtown but will continue to explore opportunities to partner with the private sector.”

Some commuters have complained that the road diet lengthens their commute, trying to turn left is impossible, the barriers are unsafe — and covered in tire marks — and there are more fender benders now. In addition, more drivers are using smaller roadways on either side of South Florida Avenue and speed humps have now been installed at the request of residents living along them to slow down traffic.

Barmby added that delays are not as bad as people think they are, averaging about two and a half minutes at peak rush hour and 30-45 seconds at off-peak times.

“I live on one of the diversion routes and I have seen more traffic,” Barmby said, adding, “I can walk out my front door and neighbors are still talking to me.”

The December 2022 vote by the City Commission initiated the design phase of the project, which was expected to take up to 18 months to complete; it also allowed city and state transportation officials to begin negotiating funding sources for construction, which was expected to start in 2026 or 2027 and last two years, according to Barmby.

State vs. local project

Commissioner Stephanie Madden said her constituents constantly complain to her in Publix and at ball games about the road diet. She said the road has become a crowded pinch point for the city and that she never hears complaints about projects that are currently planned.

“Our citizens are frustrated … I don’t have anyone email me who’s frustrated by Lakeland Hills Boulevard,” Madden said. “New York Avenue — Congressman Scott Franklin calls it a bike path to nowhere.”

In addition to the planned Lakeland Hills Boulevard redesign project, New York Avenue was partially closed north of Lime Street to become a bike path several years ago.

Madden was angry, saying city officials never dreamed the concrete barriers would remain past the one-year road diet test or that the state funding would only come with a large portion of city investment.

“What I have been most perplexed by is the way the state postures their ‘investment’ into those concrete barriers as a response to a city request,” Madden said, recalling a field trip commissioners took to see a similar project. “I was under the impression, on that first field trip with CRA, that CRA would only augment with beautification dollars. It seems now there is no state money available unless the city invests first in design, engineering, etc. I’m not sure why the state went forward when they did if there was no state money programmed. That part doesn’t make any sense to me.”

She cited the state’s realignment of Edgewater Drive in Orlando, which she said she was told was funded by the state.

“We heard a whole presentation on FDOT’s shift to ‘complete streets’ as a best practice and seeing the success of Edgewater Drive, and I thought they were selling us on what they were planning for 37, because it could no longer remain a five-lanes-at-9.5-feet-per-lane thoroughfare,” Madden said in a text message to LkldNow. “They said that because it was a historic district with businesses up to the sidewalk it could not be expanded like north and south of that stretch, so a lane reduction was the only choice.”

Nandam said there are other community projects in the state for which the department has stopped funding.

“When the community backs out, then the department figures, ‘Wait a minute, we shouldn’t have even pursued this project,’” Nandam said.  “In this particular case, I would like to commend the city. You stepping up, doing the design, shows that you are actually invested. Financial commitment and personnel commitment that the community is showing to us.” 

Madden asked Nandam and city staff if funds could be diverted from other projects or if FDOT could complete the project and Lakeland take over maintenance of the road. She added that she hoped the secretary wouldn’t perceive their complaints as having a bad attitude and then pull funding.

“I myself have a business on that road and a car went into the window.  Something has to be done because it did not fit today’s standards,” Madden said. “We’re learning behind the scenes the best we can, but we cannot go a decade with that little one-mile stretch.  (People) invested in properties thinking it would be a year-long test and then things would go back to normal.”

What’s next?

In an email to LkldNow, Cook said other projects on the burner have slowed things down for the Dixieland realignment and city staff did not want to have major construction occurring on multiple north-south thoroughfares simultaneously. Construction is slated to begin soon on Lakeland Hills Boulevard and U.S. 98 north of Griffin Road.

He said city officials “believe that construction could occur in 2027 depending on complications we learn during the design phase.  The city and FDOT have consistently conveyed an overall five-year project timeline given the complexity of the corridor.”

He added that it could take two years to complete once construction begins.

Read said the city should remove the barriers until funding is found to fully complete the project.

People are “unhappy with the barriers that are there now,” Read said.  “We put them up, we can’t take them down.  I think a lot of people would take them down if we had the opportunity.  It’s not my decision — it could be a part of mine.  We’re trying to do the best we can for you.  We don’t have the money.  I say a prayer every day that somebody’s not hurt.”

Nandam said taking the barriers down and four-laning the road was a possibility, but the city would have to pay for that — something he said they’ve known all along.

Barmby said the estimated cost to remove the barriers, resurface the road and restripe the lanes would be about $1 million. Doing so would still take time, with a bidding process required, and it would not solve safety problems with the sidewalks.

“Even with a four-lane cross section, the sidewalks are not ADA compliant,” Barmby said. “We’ve actually had folks in wheelchairs pitched into the street. There were a whole host of other major safety issues that would be addressed by having some additional footage (for sidewalks).”

Madden said she was “incredulous” when she heard Nandam wanted the city to pay for the barrier removal, because she said that was never discussed before.

“I still cannot discern if this was their intent from the beginning, to test and not fund, or if — because of the dramatic growth in the state, and inflated prices of road projects with no funding source — it fell to the bottom of their priorities since they put in the concrete for the test,” Madden said. “It looks like now we need to ask our state legislators for a special appropriation. We cannot just leave it like it is indefinitely.”

One other option would be the city paying for the restructuring and having the state reimburse it.

“All the conversations that we’ve had to this day includes city reimbursement as an option,” Nandam said. “We do that all the time … however we would have to find that money in our five-year program. We don’t have the authority to grow beyond that five years” because of cost changes.

Nandam said several times during last Monday’s meeting that tapping into federal dollars for the project would be out of the question because their rules and regulations are so stringent that the cost would go up and the timetable would stretch out.

Commissioner Chad McLeod asked Nandam if there were anything the city could do to move the process faster.

“The process and the timeline is where it is — I think the city is doing the best it can,” Nandam said. 

McLeod said commissioners and city officials always knew there would be cost sharing between the city and FDOT.

“It was my understanding that the city would pay for design, engineering work, sidewalk widening, etc., with the state paying for the road construction and improvements,” McLeod wrote in a text to LkldNow.

He added that he is not sure if he would have voted differently to keep the three-lane setup without the sidewalk improvements in 2022.

“It’s hard to say because you’re always working with the best information you have at the time. The reality of increased construction costs in recent years is beyond anyone’s control. While this is taking a lot longer than we anticipated — and I understand people’s frustrations when it seems like nothing is happening — I believe we can work with FDOT to figure out the funding,” McLeod said.

Nandam said the roadway will never go back to five lanes.

“I think the city is stuck for the conversion of the roadway for the final configuration,” Nandam said.

Residents and business owners

Christine Boring, owner of Bungalow Boutique & Gifts, said she actually likes the road diet because it is better for her business, which sits just feet from the road.

“It has slowed the traffic down,” Boring said. “Businesswise, more people are seeing our sign and coming in. We’re lucky, we have our own parking lot. You can drive through to the alleyway.”

She acknowledged that people do get stuck in the traffic, but that happened before the road diet.  Now, people are forced to drive the 30-mile-per-hour speed limit. She said people heading north from Southgate and beyond would fly through Dixieland before the narrowing.

“There was no room for the trucks — they’d have to drive half on the sidewalk. They finally got a lane big enough for the trucks,” Boring said. “The worst was you’d be on the sidewalk and they’d be right there going 45 mph.”

She said the city and/or state need to fix the sidewalks.

“It’s disappointing — it should look nice,” she said. “They’ve already got the plans drawn up. It’s unfair to do half of it and not finish it. Dixieland is a mess of a problem with no easy fixes. It was done wrong to begin with — they never should’ve let people businesses build their properties along the sidewalk.”

When told that the state is wanting the city to cough up more funding than was originally thought, Barbara Boulerice, who works at Bungalow Boutique and Gifts, said, “It’s a shame they didn’t make that clear when they wanted to do all this.”

Natalie Oldenkamp, who was an early proponent of the road diet and works along South Florida Avenue, said she is “sorely disappointed by the state FDOT” and Nandam’s statements.

“I went to each meeting, starting 10 years ago, and I feel that we as a city were misled,” said Oldenkamp, who sit on the city’s Historic Preservation Board. “I completely disagree with Tiger Read saying that there are more accidents. I do feel safer as a driver and pedestrian and I am hoping that our Parks & Rec can at least do some landscaping magic.”

Back in 2016, FDOT showed renderings of the reimagined South Florida Avenue through Dixieland. The planners envisioned marked gateways into the corridor where the street narrows. Plans include wide sidewalks shaded by outstretched trees, along with two travel lanes and a central turn lane. There is also some parallel parking in front of shops where there is enough space. One rendering even shows a brick street in front of the Polk Theater, although that is just north of the road diet. In fact, several of the renderings envisioned brick streets within the road diet. But on Thursday Lazenby the state will not allow a brick street on a major thoroughfare.

Cook said if the City Commission wants to deviate from the three-lane/expanded sidewalk plan, it would need to approve a resolution expressing its preference for a different cross-section than what was approved in December 2022.

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