The cost: more than $1 million a mile.
The length: 5.72 miles.
A road improvement project for portions of State Road 789 with construction in 2021-25 is expected to cost $7.09 million. The improvements cover the SR 789 corridor from 27th Street North to the intersection of Palm and Gulf drives, with funding by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Gulf Drive has been identified by the DOT as a “failing segment during seasons and holidays,” according to the project information packet.
Holmes Beach city engineer Lynn Burnett registered the project on the DOT’s priority list to address “chronic flooding issues that are prevalent along Gulf Drive,” according to a May 12, 2016, email from Burnett to DOT’s Ryan Weeks and Lauren Hatchell. The project also ties in with Burnett’s recently proposed roadway bike and pedestrian plans.
The repairs would establish a safe corridor for visitors and residents as the only evacuation route in the city, while providing the first step in converting the corridor to a “complete street.” The push for complete streets is part of a DOT initiative to provide safer, context-sensitive roads by putting “the right street in the right place,” according to the DOT website, fdot.gov.
Eight existing concrete cross drains from 52nd Street to 43rd Street would be repaired to manage stormwater runoff, while allowing for bike path construction on top of the drainage system.
A four-lane arterial roundabout would also be constructed at the intersection of Gulf Drive and SR 789, according to the DOT packet.
A portion of the project would be funded by the city’s local gas tax revenue and regional trails funding as sections of SR 789 are within the city limits and part of a future Shared-Use, Nonmotorized Trail system. The AMI SunTrail, a north-south corridor from would run the length of Gulf Drive. It would consist of two 11-foot-wide vehicle lanes with a 3-foot separation on each side for a paved two-way 10-foot-wide bike path on one side and an 8-foot-wide path on the other side.
City commissioners are expected to authorize Mayor Bob Johnson to execute the project’s priority application for the DOT to fund the project at their March 28 meeting at city hall.