CRESTVIEW — The Florida Department of Transportation held an open house at Warriors Hall Tuesday night to discuss the Interstate 10 at Antioch Road interchange project.
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The intent of the project is to provide additional access to the area in conjunction with the planned Crestview bypass. The $65 million state-funded interchange will take between three to three and a half years to complete, according to FDOT Public Information Officer Ian Satter.
“The county is working on their project for the bypass,” Satter said. “This will connect to that and hopefully provide a little bit more connectivity to reduce some of the congestion woes that people have seen over the past few years.”
The open house allowed residents to ask questions, voice concerns and give other additional comments to FDOT representatives while looking at displays of what the project will look like when it is completed.
City officials such as Mayor J.B. Whitten, council members Joe Blocker and Cynthia Brown, and Okaloosa County Commissioner Nathan Boyles were all in attendance to discuss the project with residents.
According to Satter, the project will be beneficial in reducing congestion on both Antioch Road and State Road 85, which will in turn improve safety.
“When we can reduce the amount of vehicles that are on any particular roadway, that is going to reduce the opportunities for crashes to occur,” Satter said. “Safety is always going to be our No. 1 thing.”
Satter said after the open house, FDOT will talk about the comments they received and tweak the interchange project.
Official design for the project will begin in 2021, with construction set to begin in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FDOT holds open house to discuss Antioch Road interstate interchange