For the first time in a long time, Lakeland commissioners got some good news Friday about the much-maligned South Florida Avenue road diet project.
City staff has been in talks with the Florida Department of Transportation in recent months about funding to remove the concrete barriers, widen the sidewalks and reconstruct the road — and “we’ve moved them a ton,” Public Works Engineering Manager Ryan Lazenby said.
At a glance
Lakeland officials are doing several things to speed up the reconstruction and beautification of South Florida Avenue through Dixieland:
- The city is funding and managing the design phase of the project, which will go out to bid next week.
- Commissioners have said they’re willing to front the money to get started faster, as long as FDOT agrees to reimburse it.
- Construction is now tentatively slated to begin in fall 2026 instead of 2027.
What is the South Florida Avenue road diet? In April 2020, 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. It was intended to be a one-year test to see the effect on traffic.
The City Commission voted in December 2022 to make the three-lane configuration permanent and use the reclaimed roadway for wider sidewalks, but construction has yet to begin. The project has been intensely controversial.
Funding concerns: City commissioners were shocked in April when FDOT District 1 Secretary L.K. Nandam suggested Lakeland might have to pay half of the $22 million cost to rebuild and realign the state road.
Since then, Lazenby said the two entities have come closer to the city’s original expectation that Lakeland would pay for the design phase and aesthetic enhancements like decorative lighting, street trees and pavers. And FDOT would take responsibility for essential infrastructure such as drainage, traffic signals and roadway resurfacing.
“They’ve agreed to pay for any right-of-way acquisition,” Lazenby said. “They’re also providing us with pavement evaluation reports, which is saving us hundreds of thousands of dollars… And they’ve agreed to pay CEI (construction engineering and inspection). That’s $2.5 million alone.”
Design bidding to start next week: The city will advertise the project to engineering design firms for 30 days starting next week. Lazenby said his department is hoping to select a firm and present a contract to the commission in late August or early September. The technical design process takes about two years.
FDOT meeting: Lazenby said he and Transportation and Planning Manager Chuck Barmby met with FDOT officials on Thursday so they could work on developing a memorandum of understanding by late July or early August.
The document will outline each entity’s responsibilities, including a few items that still need to be hammered out. For example, it isn’t clear who would pay to relocate underground utilities if unforeseen conflicts arise.
“If we hit something like Five-Points Roundabout, where we had some of those utility issues, FDOT needs to come up with that dollar,” Lazenby said. “We’ll make sure that’s all in the MOU.”
Shovel-ready: “We anticipate being shovel-ready in fall 2026” with the design complete and MOU in hand, Lazenby said.
But he cautioned, “That doesn’t mean DOT is going to have the money to fulfill their funding obligation in 2026.” So the commissioners may have to decide if Lakeland is willing to front the money and be reimbursed in a later year.
“The answer will be yes,” Mayor Bill Mutz said without hesitation.
Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley agreed, as long as there is an ironclad agreement that the city will be reimbursed, “like language in there signed in blood.”
Lazenby said it will “locked down” before work begins. He added that FDOT is very supportive of the city’s desire to accelerate the project. Also, the costs will likely be lower in 2026 than they would be a year or two later, so FDOT benefits.
Cautiously optimistic: Lazenby said it’s not yet a “warm and fuzzy feeling,” but he’s hopeful that by September “at least it won’t feel like indigestion.”
“We’ve moved millions and millions of dollars towards the good and we really are advancing now with at least some hope in sight and some sort of plan coming forward,” he said.
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