CRESTVIEW — The “Crestview Connector Roads Plan" map hangs in city engineer Fred Cook's office. It hasn't received city council approval, and is not part of the city’s comprehensive plan.
But it represents hope for traffic relief.
“It was a kind of a visionary, or a dream map, that went into the Comprehensive Plan document,” Cook said. As a tool to be incorporated into the city’s transportation plan and — ultimately — the state-mandated comprehensive plan, it is a discussion starting point, he and city planner Eric Davis said.
TWO ROUTES
The map suggests two routes to draw traffic off State Road 85.
Once, a southwest Rattlesnake Bluff Road-Garret Pit Road route seemed realistic, Davis said. “Then the 7th Special Forces came and they basically shut down that option,” because the proposed route came too close to the 7th Group’s training grounds.
A southeast route following Dry Ridge and connecting with Okaloosa Lane also seemed possible. “People have talked about this route for years,” Cook said. But both ideas would require routing traffic through the Eglin Air Force Base reservation. “The problem is, it’s very difficult to get right-of-way granted from the Air Force,” Davis said.
The Okaloosa Lane route particularly is unlikely to get Air Force approval, because it would introduce traffic on a road that aligns with Duke Field's approach route, adversely affecting nighttime flight missions.
CONNECTIONS
The dream map includes several other connectors:
• An Arena Road north-south connector to Lloyd Street, across U.S. Highway 90 and connecting via Normandy Road with Old Bethel Road.
• A north-south Northview Drive connector off the P.J. Adams Parkway-Antioch Road corridor to Highway 90 at the south tip of Old Bethel.
• An east-west Rasberry Road Extension connector linking Arena Road and the P.J. Adams-Antioch Road corridor.
Of the dream map's seven connectors, only one, the Brookmeade Extension, has been partially completed. Its north end does not connect with Highway 90, as suggested on the map.
WORKING WITHIN BUDGET
City planners realize the map's likelihood of ever seeing fruition is slight given the cost of road construction, Davis said.
The Rattlesnake Bluff-Garret Pit connector would be more than twice the $160 million P.J. Adams-Antioch corridor’s cost, as it would require bridging the Shoal River and Interstate 10, he said.
Crestview’s resources are best used within city limits for connectors that might feasibly be done with limited city road funds, Davis said.
“We need to work on the Rasberry Road connections to Antioch, and in-town connections to make traffic move north and south better,” he said. “We need to do the $400,000 projects because the million-dollar projects and upper are beyond our budget.”
“The map is really just a tool,” Davis said. “It’s way beyond the city’s capability. We’d have to partner with the county and state.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview planners' 'dream map' aids traffic relief discussion