NICEVILLE — While transportation planners and residents agonize over efforts to convince local politicians to invest in expensive road projects, the Mid-Bay Bridge Connector races in relative obscurity toward completion.
Read a presentation by the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority >>
“It’s the biggest transportation project in the county and it’s been going on since 2009,” boasts Jim Vest, executive director of the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority, which is building the connector.
When completed in mid-2014, the $143 million connector will be part of a 16-mile limited access route from State Road 85 around Niceville and across the Mid-Bay Bridge to Destin.
Vest will lead county officials, military members and other dignitaries on a tour of the project next week, something he does twice a year, according to Okaloosa County Commissioner Dave Parisot.
Parisot said he won’t be able to take the tour, but he’s confident the connector will provide “pretty good relief for some of the traffic on (Niceville’s) Highway 20.”
The 11-mile connector will run almost exclusively through Eglin Air Force Base’s reservation. A small stretch just north of Niceville cuts across 11 acres ceded by Ruckel Properties.
The drive across the connector will carry commuters over bridges crossing five streams: Rocky Creek, East Turkey Creek, Swift Creek, Foxhead Creek and Mill Creek.
There also will be interchanges at North Lakeshore Drive, State Road 20, Range Road, State Road 285 and SR 85, Vest said. Forest Road in Niceville will be extended to meet the connector for an interchange near College Boulevard and Northwest Florida State College.
The connector will be a toll road. Vest said initial plans are to charge a $1.50 toll that will be discounted by 50 cents for SunPass users.
Drivers who use the entire length of the Mid-Bay Bridge and connector to get all to or from Destin will pay a total of $4.50 without a SunPass.
Tolls collected on the connector will supplement bridge tolls to pay down a $260 million debt service the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority has accrued over the years.
The five-member Bridge Authority was formed in 1990 “to build the Mid-Bay Bridge and improve and enhance traffic to it,” Vest said.
Since completion of the bridge in 1995, the connector is the Bridge Authority’s most ambitious traffic project, but not the only one.
Its first project was improving Danny Wuerffel Way in Destin to provide better access to the bridge. When that job was completed, the authority improved the northern bridge access and built more toll booths.
Phase one of the connector project began in 2009 and was completed in 2011. It created a four-lane road from the bridge to SR 20, which also was widened to handle the connector’s traffic.
Vest compares the growth in the Bridge Authority’s debt to improvements made on a home.
“We’ve been making improvements to our house, refinancing and borrowing more money,” he said.
He said the connector “didn’t cost anybody anything except those people who cross the bridge.”
He said the toll revenue allows the Bridge Authority to act decisively when improvements are needed.
On the other hand, local communities struggle to raise funds for transportation projects.
A group called the North Okaloosa Transportation Committee, for example, has proposed forming a Tax Increment Financing District to scrape together $100 million to expand P.J. Adams Parkway in Crestview and relieve pressure on SR 85.
The project, which committee members say is long overdue, must win approval from the city of Crestview and Okaloosa County. There is no assurance that it will happen.
While Vest is confident the Mid-Bay Bridge Connector will offer a valuable hurricane evacuation route and help ease summertime traffic congestion in Niceville, Okaloosa County Commissioner Don Amunds worries the roadway could hurt commerce.
“When they built a bypass in Opp, Ala., it really hurt the town,” Amunds said. “The businesses are down.”
“I know the Chamber of Commerce in Niceville has a list of pros and cons (concerning the connector),” Amunds said. “I don’t know how it will do. I think it’s way ahead of its time. It’s going to be interesting to see what the traffic counts are.”
Tricia Brunson, president and CEO of the Niceville Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.