CRESTVIEW — Newly appointed county Public Works Director Jason Autrey recently discussed road projects with community and business leaders, dispelling what he called myths, and offering hope for road improvements.
One major myth, Autrey said, is that more county road money flows south than it does north. Of 11 major projects scheduled for work in the coming years, nine are north of the Shoal River, he said.
One reason, Autrey said, is because all south county roads are paved, while 200 miles of north county roads are still dirt.
Among projects about to begin, or in the planning stages, are paving the short dirt stretch of Okaloosa Lane near Riverside Elementary School and paving the north section of Fairchild Road.
‘THE BIG ONE’
“The big one is P.J. Adams Parkway,” he said during the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce Government Issues Committee's Jan. 14 meeting. “Every time I have a conversation with the state, it starts out with, ‘What can I do with P.J. Adams Parkway?’”
The project has advanced because county officials offered the state Department of Transportation innovative ideas, he said. The original state grant was just for part of the design phase.
“It seems kind of foolish to design a roadway that I can’t build and can’t afford to completely design,” Autrey said.
By redefining the $4.4 million grant to design just the State Road 85 to Interstate 10 segment — with money left over for some construction — the county reduced a $100 million project into more palatable sections, he said.
The Board of County Commissioners must make some tough funding decisions to ensure work on the corridor continues once it begins, Autrey said.
Options will be discussed at the board’s Feb. 3 meeting in Crestview.
NORTH AND SOUTH
A change in the “north vs. south” attitude is also helping the Public Works department tackle roadway issues, Autrey said.
“I hate to say it; there is a separation between the north end and south end,” he said. “There’s a physical separation and a mental separation. But most of the tourism base that supports the south end comes through the north end, and folks down south are starting to get that.”
He described S.R. 85 as “one great funnel down to the Niceville area” that bottlenecks through Crestview. The P.J. Adams-Antioch Road Corridor is expected to relieve that traffic, especially if an interchange at I-10 can be built.
“If you open up an opportunity to get on I-10 to the west, it will improve that situation,” Autrey said. “P.J. Adams is the first step of that. If I have P.J. Adams four-laned to I-10, I can say to the state, ‘I’ve done my part. Now you do yours.’”
The corridor is a preferred option over widening S.R. 85, he said.
“I am a believer in alternate routes instead of widening, because if you have an accident, it shuts down the whole road; but if there’s an alternate route, you have a way around it,” Autrey said.
NO EAST BYPASS
One option unlikely to occur is building an east bypass. Using Live Oak Church Road and Airman’s Road, it would eventually link with Okaloosa Lane.
Because Okaloosa Lane lines up almost precisely with the Duke Field runway, headlights from heavy bypass traffic would adversely affect nighttime flight operations, Autrey said.
Finding a solution for the congestion is a top concern, former chamber president Dennis Mitchell said.
“We have no future in this region if we don’t get that bottleneck (S.R. 85) taken care of," he said.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: P.J. Adams is ‘the big one'; east bypass is a no-go (VIDEO)