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published: Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Parkway project in park?

By TREY CHRISTY

trey.christy@newssun.com

SEBRING -- While the tentative date for completion of Phase II of the Sebring Parkway remains on schedule, how it will be completed is uncertain.

A lot of the construction to this point has been done in house by the county Road and Bridge Department, but much of that department has been allocated back to resurfacing roads around the county.

At one time there were 25 to 30 Road and Bridge employees working on Phase II, now there are five or six, County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said.

"This covers construction through the Youth Care Lane intersection," he said. "There is future funding in a few years, two or three years from now, to complete construction south to U.S. 27."

Commissioners talked Tuesday about the lack of Road and Bridge employees available to maintain county roads.

"We didn't (resurface any roads) last year, plus we are already into this (budget) year," Commissioner Barbara Stewart said in an interview after the meeting. "We are looking at the possibility of having the private sector do the last portion of Phase II of the parkway."

The last portion of Phase II runs from Youth Care Lane to U.S. 27.

There are still a few factors, like the railroad company installing a new electronic switch and crossing equipment on that stretch of road, and a few pieces of property still need to be obtained.

The projected completion date is still July of 2010, but county employees are unsure if the funds will be there to contract out the remaining area not finished by county workers.

"It's not that we are not going to finish the parkway, (but) it might take a little bit longer because we need to let the revenue pick up," Gavarrete said. "On the other hand, we need to free up in-house labor and equipment ... do maintenance instead of construction projects with the Parkway."

He said at the previous rate the project, started the summer of 2007, could have been completed in-house by 2009.

"But it's not good for the maintenance of (county roads,)" he said. "People used to ask me in 2007 and I would tell them it was at least a three-year project."

The construction of Phase III is now completely off the Capital Improvements Schedule.

The News-Sun reported in late July that work on Phase III, a four-lane divided highway from the Parkway to County Road 17A (Memorial Drive) near College Drive in Avon Park was scheduled to start in the 2010-11 fiscal year. Construction on that phase was estimated to take two years.

"It's a lot different when we talked about this in June," Stewart said. "A lot has happened. We only have so much money and we need to know if we do this project how long are we really going to have to wait to do another."

An upcoming workshop will address this and other budget issues, one Stewart said she looks forward to.

Newly elected Commissioner Jeff Carlson has his eyes on finishing the Parkway.

"I think we need to put it back on the table to be done and not put it aside for new projects," he said. "It's been on the table for 30 years and we have been setting money aside for all these years. I think to pull it off the table now is a bad decision."