Santa Rosa Countyis kicking off the long-awaited widening of Woodbine Road in Pace. The three-phase construction project began Monday, with a primary focus on improvements at the intersection of Woodbine and U.S. Highway 90.
“Extremely excited,” proclaimed Sam Parker, chair of the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners, who represents District 1 where the road is located. “This was one of the big issues — one of the many roads that had concerned me enough eight years ago to even prompt me to run for office (and) try to serve the community. And it's extremely exciting to see it finally getting started.”
Phase one of the construction improvements will go from Highway 90 to just north of Limbaugh Lane, roughly a half-mile.
According to Parker, the intersection at Highway 90 is a major “pain” point for morning travelers.
“That is the worst part, you know, everybody's heading to Pensacola,” he said, pointing to dramatic improvements in the project. “So what this will do is build a dedicated right turn lane only.”
Parker is referencing plans for a free-flow (no traffic signal) right turn from Woodbine Road west onto Highway 90. Additionally, there will be dedicated dual left turn lanes from Woodbine east onto 90. And the merge lane on Highway 90 will be extended by an additional 600 feet.
Other modifications include drainage improvements, new sidewalks on both sides of Woodbine Road, and dedicated left turn lanes on Woodbine Road for access.
Future phases of the project will involve widening the stretch of roadway from Limbaugh Lane and Vinewood Lane, as well as the four-laning of Woodbine from Vinewood through the commercial sector referred to as Five Points and continuing north to the Santa Rosa County Sports Plex. Over the course of the entire project, the dangerous middle lane will be eliminated.
Woodbine Road is classified as a Major Arterial Road, with an average annual daily traffic count of 19,400 as of May 2023. It’s a fast-growing part of the county that includes the new 240-acre Lakes of Woodbine subdivision, which will feature 750 upscale homes.
Despite the current growth, Commissioner Parker says there are many in the county who say this widening project should have been done 20 years ago.
“And I couldn't agree more,” said the lifelong resident of the community. “We've had thousands of homes that have been built since I've been out of high school, but we have not had commensurate road improvements.”
Now that he sits on the Board of County Commissioners, he understands some of the answers to the burning question of why it has taken so long.
“Funding is always the biggest challenge, but a lot of that comes down to hard decisions, you know, and that's what the community expects, is you to make the hard decisions that say, hey, we want to be extremely fiscally conservative, but we have to invest in the infrastructure,” he explained.
Parker estimates the project could cost as much as $70 million. He thanked former Santa Rosa Commissioner and Florida State Rep. Jayer Williamson and Sen. Doug Broxson for helping to secure some state dollars.
“The lion's share of where this is coming from is going to be from the current local option sales tax that is in place to help pay for infrastructure, as well as our property taxes, which is where the majority of our general fund comes from,” he said. “So it's going to be paid for primarily by people that use the road and live here.”
Panhandle Paving and Grading has been contracted to complete the road work, given an aggressive timeline of 210 days to substantially complete the work. Phase one of the project should be fully completed by early next year.
Meantime, efforts are being taken to reduce day-time traffic flow interruptions during construction.
“We've chosen to spend the extra money and require the contractor to do the vast majority of their work that would impede traffic will be done at nighttime,” said Parker, noting there will be plenty of work that can be done during the day, that won’t require lane closures.
