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Lakeland officials have a better timetable for the design and construction phases of the controversial, $22-million South Florida Avenue Road Diet, with fall of 2025 marked as the date for public input on design, and a tentative construction start date of fiscal year 2027, which begins in October 2026.
“We’re looking at about a two-year design table,” Public Works Engineering Manager Ryan Lazenby told city commissioners during an agenda study Friday morning. “So somewhere around next fall, September, we should have that concept in the real world where we can start doing some public involvement.”
Lazenby calls it picking the palette in terms of what sidewalk surfaces and landscaping will be chosen.
State requirements: The Florida Department of Transportation required that the lanes of the state highway be widened to adhere to current safety regulations.
The project began in 2020 as a one-year test of narrowing South Florida Avenue from Lime to Ariana streets, from five lanes to three lanes, using low, concrete barriers. It turned into a permanent configuration to adhere to those state guidelines until the city and FDOT could fund the design and construction of the project, which will create:
- Two 11-foot-wide travel lanes
- An 11-foot-wide, two-way left turn lane
- 11.5-foot-wide sidewalks along both sides
- Hardscaping and landscaping with appropriate trees
- New street signals, including a left-turn signal in at least one intersection
- Upgraded drainage infrastructure
- Corridor lighting
- Installation of Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations
Monday votes: The city will vote Monday to enter into a memorandum of understanding with FDOT for the city to pay for the design phase and the department to pay for “typical road construction.” Anything extra, like the hardscaping of sidewalks, crosswalks, lighting, and the landscaping of trees, tree beds and flowers, will come from the city’s budget.
The design price tag is $1.85 million, with most of the funding coming from Lakeland’s Community Redevelopment Agency and the city’s water utilities department. The city will also vote Monday on hiring Patel, Greene & Associates for roadway engineering and design services.
The timeline was pushed back about five months from what Lazenby and city Planning and Transportation Manager Chuck Barmby discussed with LkldNow in July. Hurricanes Helene and Milton, along with some budget shortfalls, delayed the design phase.
The contract with the state calls for a 2030 start date, but Lazenby said he is hopeful it will be moved up to 2027.
Mayor Bill Mutz asked how much longer it would’ve been otherwise.
“We’d probably all (have) been dead,” Lazenby joked to the laughter of the commission and city staff, knowing how long this project has taken.
Timeline:
May 2016: A team of planners, architects and economists hired by FDOT to reimagine a one-mile stretch of South Florida Avenue presented renderings to the public.
July 2017: City commissioners traveled to Orlando to see an example of what FDOT planned.
June 2018: City planners announce that low, concrete barriers will be installed as part of the road diet test.
April 2019: Eleven sensors were installed along the corridor to collect speed and travel-time data. Traffic counters were to be installed at each intersection. The city announced it would also collect information about safety, travel time, economic impacts and effects on nearby roads.
April 2020: Construction began to narrow the road from five narrow lanes to three wide lanes and to place low concrete barriers similar to medians along the outer edge.
April 2021: Results of safety data are released.
April 2022: Many people voiced frustrations at the modified road and the concrete edges.
Dec. 2022: The City Commission voted to make the three-lane configuration permanent and use the reclaimed roadway for wider sidewalks.
April 2024: An FDOT assistant secretary told city commissioners that the city might have to foot half of the $22 million construction bill. City staff negotiated with state officials to ensure that Lakeland would only be paying for the design, city infrastructure and aesthetics.
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I hope they’re happy this time. It’s getting expensive switching this road back and forth.