Okaloosa County's Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan includes transportation and stormwater projects funded with gas taxes beginning Jan. 1. The plan is as follows:
•Okaloosa County Public Works will spend $1.5 million on road equipment to complete transportation projects.
•Employees will pave Fairchild Road in Crestview beginning in the fall of 2014.
•Milling and resurfacing Martin Luther King Jr. and Green Acres boulevards, and full depth reclamation, along with various drainage improvements are scheduled.
•Mount Olive Road is scheduled for future asphalt milling and resurfacing. Asphalt milling involves recycling existing materials and recycled asphalt pavement in lieu of virgin road construction aggregate, saving natural resources and energy.
•Portions of the following roads are being considered for dirt-to-pave improvements: Davis Road in Laurel Hill; Taylor Road in Crestview; Riley Barnhill, Dairy and Lenwood Jackson roads in the Baker area; and Adams, Jack and High Ridge Roads in the Auburn area.
Okaloosa County annually replaces one or two wooden bridges with a concrete bridge. This winter, the bridge over Dead Fall Creek on Old River Road will be replaced, along with the bridge across Turkey Hen Creek on Antioch Road. A $200,000 budget is set for material costs for both bridges, part of the 20-year program to convert all wooden bridges to concrete.
Overall, Public Works maintains 201 miles of dirt roads, 74 miles of cold mix base stabilized roads, 666 miles of paved roads, and 73 bridges and large box culverts.
Additionally, planning and engineering departments collaborate with municipalities and the Florida Department of Transportation on Okaloosa projects, such as U.S. Highway 98 at the Hurlburt main gate, P.J. Adams/Antioch Road and others.
Some major 2014 stormwater projects include pipe lining on Pahl Court and Doral Drive; pipe installation work in the Tanglewood subdivision, Massachusetts Avenue, Meadow Lane and Parish Boulevard; and a rehabilitation project in the Foxwood subdivision.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: County plans transportation, stormwater improvements