More than 40 road projects across the state are being accelerated by a week to 70 days to take advantage of a reduction in traffic because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Florida Department of Transportation has announced.
In Jacksonville, the $2.8 million Arlington Expressway sidewalk project is expected to finish up two to three weeks early thanks to the acceleration, while in Nassau County the completion of the $60 million widening of A1A from Rubin Davis Lane to O’Neill Scott Road is being moved up by two months.
The announcement outlined the second round of projects being sped up amid the coronavirus.
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Many of the newly announced projects involve resurfacing, with the timelines moving up one to two weeks. The project with a timeline moving up 70 days involves painting steel superstructure components and replacing steel members on the County Road 270A Bridge in Gadsden County.
“We will continue to accelerate projects as much as possible, while also incorporating the CDC’s (federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s) safety and sanitation guidelines,” Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault said in a prepared statement Friday.
The state had previously announced acceleration on several larger projects, including work on a 21-mile section of the $2.3 billion Interstate 4 “Ultimate” project in Seminole and Orange counties. Other projects previously identified included work on a new Howard Frankland Bridge linking Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
