The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners approved a $1.1 million study Tuesday for a proposed collector road aimed at easing traffic congestion on U.S. Highway 98 west of Hurlburt Field.
- The board voted to approve Task Order 1 with HDR Engineering, Inc. for $1,106,522.38 to conduct a Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study for the West 98 Collector Transportation Improvement Project.
The proposed 3-mile road would run parallel to Highway 98, providing an alternative route for local traffic and potentially alleviating congestion on the busy highway, which currently handles about 50,000 vehicles per day.
“Highway 98 in the West County area, it’s way over capacity. There’s a lot of crashes out in that area. A lot of delay,” said Scott Bitterman, Okaloosa County Engineer, during the meeting.
Bitterman highlighted the urgency of the project, noting that while the Florida Department of Transportation has plans to widen Highway 98 to six lanes, even that expansion may not be sufficient.
- “A six lane highway, it can handle about 55,000 cars per day. So if-and-when Highway 98 gets widened out to six lanes, it’s still going to be almost at capacity when it’s open day one,” Bitterman explained.
The project aims to create a collector road from Solar Street to Green Drive, just west of Hurlburt Field. In addition to the roadway, plans include a utility corridor extending to the Santa Rosa County line.
Bitterman emphasized the project’s potential benefits, including improved traffic flow, enhanced safety, and support for Hurlburt Field’s mission readiness by providing better access for military personnel.
- The project involves partnerships with several entities, including the Air Force, Okaloosa Water and Sewer, Florida Department of Transportation, Okaloosa Public Schools (due to Florosa Elementary), and the Florosa Fire Control District.
Commissioner Trey Goodwin, whose district includes the project area, expressed strong support for the initiative. “This is definitely in my district, and this is a portion of my district that suffers greatly from traffic congestion,” Goodwin said.
County officials stressed that the project would primarily utilize federal property and is not expected to require taking private land. The PD&E study will help determine the best route for the road while minimizing environmental and residential impacts.
- Funding for the study includes a $375,000 match from a Florida Department of Transportation grant, with the remainder coming from county surtax funds approved in November 2023.
While the project has garnered support, officials acknowledged it would take years to complete and requires continued cooperation between various stakeholders, including Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field.
Jason Autrey, Okaloosa Public Works Director, emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum and leveraging resources like the surtax to keep the project moving forward. “We will continue to fight the good fight because we believe in this having such value to the community,” Autrey said.
19 Responses
What a waste of time and money! Those of us that live in the area know that highway 98 needs to be widened. Just to build an alternate route around the current highway 98 and dump them back on highway 98.In my view does not correct the original problem. highway 98 needs to be widened as soon as possible. With all the additional money put into these studies and time highway 98 could have been widened already.
try counting garbage trucks, school buses, mail trucks, etc that won’t need to get on 98 every time they need access to another road in this stretch. This proposal does serve a needed purpose that 6-laning 98 does not.
Totally agree. SPOT ON OBSERVATION
As proposed, a total waste of time and money. Build all the way to navarre, or not at all. Stop playing stupid and feeding our tax dolloars to your high-school buddies. Typical bloated government waste spending.
As for the crashes! Enforce a stronger effort to stop the high SPEEDING on Hwy 98. There’s crashes everywhere & everyday on 98, it’s ridiculous! Sometimes Law Enforcement is parked on the side of road and watching speeders go by. School is about to start back again, and God Forbid, people gonna be killed due speeders. STOP THE SPEEDING ON HWY 98!
The problem is not speeders but the one that pull out on or over without paying attention because some people drive in a catatonic state of mind oblivious to their surroundings. If the slower traffic would stay out of the left lane it would be a huge help. Police should ticket the people that just get in the far left lane and don’t keep pace but impede those around them.
And the idiots that don’t obey the 30 signs that state slower traffic keep right
They should use the money for cameras on all these traffic light so they stop running the red light. Also it will help if they put cameras on the side of the road so people stop driving 90 in a 55 zone.
So people where try to make u-turns or try to pull out local Stores can do that, I see so many People pull out last minute because a lot of people can not calculate how fast someone is going.
Maybe if helps to if people stop using they phone while driving.
Cameras will see this person speeding and on the phone, they only do it once because that will coast them a lot.
People say slow traffic on the the left hold up the flow, ever thought they going the speed limit and pull into the left so all these cars on the right can pull into 98. But News Flash everyone is rude and don’t care about the law.
I see it every day, I think they do it because they want drama in they Life.
Perfect example: me going down 98 , 60 on the right, someone tail gate me and try to make me going faster while the left line is completely open.. then finally passing me and yelling at me.. what is wrong with people these days…
Agree with some comments here. Alternative route that dumps back on is not a solution. As far as accidents I blame 99.9 percent on texting/phones/distracted driving. Most accidents are due to negligence peros. Law enforcement needs to be creative on how to catch people texting and driving. And the fines and punishment should mirror DUI.
The main nationwide problem, is no one takes driving seriously. Cars are marketed to us in commercials as if it’s some fun activity. Sports cars and even SUV’s with several hundred horsepower at the hands of people who don’t know how to drive correctly.
Driving isn’t just about opening a door, sitting in a seat and moving some controls around. In my 38 years of driving, I know of very few people who actually know how to drive. No one pays attention to anything or anyone else around them. They’re on their phones, eating burgers or gazing off looking at the views.
It doesn’t matter what is done about traffic flow or volume, until people learn how to drive, which will never happen.
This actually makes no sense, logistically. How would it ease congestion when your routing it back onto the 98,Making another entry into Hurlburt seems like a better option and less costly.
Waste of money…wonder who on County Board is profiting from this study!
Widen 98 and encourage a drive around of military land by removing tolls on bridges and raising speed limit on I10 between Milton and Defuniak.
I’m sick to death of these outrageously expensive “studies” which produce no solutions, no new ideas
I’ve lived out in fluorosa for 15 years and where they’re going to put that road they’re going to trap everybody in between two roads and it’s going to be a fucking nightmare the kids that go out in the woods and go into the reservation in there and play around that’s not going to be possible because there’s going to be a road there we need a new commissioner we need a new mayor somebody that ain’t wasting money on fucking bullshit
wow
Okay. I’ve been here since the ’70s and this county has had more than enough time to do something about 98. It was crowded in the ’80s when I was driving to high school and still the county did nothing about it and you’re waiting till now to do something or a bunch of dumb people. I have better words but I’ll keep it civil and making a new road going behind. Several subdivisions I do not believe is going to be the answer just like the overpass at hurlburt field not to mention all the wildlife that’s going to be wanting to cross that like the bears and so on and so forth. You going to displace them, make it more dangerous for them than it already is and then there’s all the natural streams that flow through there cuz I have one that goes right in front of my house. What are you going to do with those? I’m not allowed to put a fence across it but yet y’all are going to build a road across it instead of just pollution from one road now, you’re going to have pollution from two roads with the subdivisions and people and houses caught in between which is probably going to contaminate everybody’s property with the liquids coming off of people’s vehicles instead, just one’s area. It’ll be from two areas combining with the subdivisions in the middle and the school. No. Thank you. You have the Air Force there and the use of all kinds of science. Use that to see what it can be thought of, other than let’s contaminate the whole area I’m not going to say no one has thought about it but I’m sure it’s been pushed back because no one seems to care about contaminating the area let alone the country. I mean hell. If you don’t want the future of America to last long, just go ahead and nuke it be over with instead of slowly killing everybody do it in one fatal swoop I don’t claim to be anywhere near smart but even I know this is a dumbass idea and I would expect more from those that we elect. But then again people did elect a criminal for president and a criminal for the State of Florida. Who’s now a congressman so on and so forth? Sorry to get a little political there, but I’m just trying to say that we don’t make the best choices in the world. We need to turn to somebody who’s smarter if that means going to foreign countries to get advice then so be it. Was it China or Japan who had a natural disaster and had rebuilt most of their stuff and like was it 6 months to a year when it takes us that long to do half a mile of road? If we are not the most inefficient country in the world, we’re damn close cuz everybody’s got to get a piece of the pie. You not looking out for the citizens of this country and it’s the citizens of this country that put you in that position
Collector roads provide alternative transportation routes for those who live in and service the area. It wouldn’t matter if the road dumps back onto 98 because those people aren’t passing through, as if using a shortcut; they are stopping and sleeping in their homes, not bypassing congestion.
Build collector roads strategically at highest points of population density, ingress, egress, etc. Such roads can be assessed and built overtime, as different areas become populated at different times and rates. It also minimizes the exposure of Capital Improvements and congestion (via construction) to the public by spreading out the projects overtime. Either spend huge money and time upfront (billions in taxes, years of construction) or mete it out based on need.
I would like to add my thoughts and ideas to the discussion. I’m sure there are many other ideas and solutions.
A possibly much simpler and less costly solution would be:
1. Lower the speed limit from Mary Esther until west of Florosa Elementary School to 40 mph. This includes the entire roadway through the Hurlburt Field area.
2. Lower the speed limit from west of Florosa Elementary area all the way to the county line to a consistent 45 mph. What Santa Rosa County chooses to do is their own business. Would be nice if they lowered their speed limit all the way to Navarre where is hoes down to 40 mph.
3. Law enforcement needs to enforce the posted speed limit in ALL lanes of traffic.
4. Increase the number of traffic lights to break up the continuous stream flow of traffic. This would enable local residents to more safely enter, cross, and exit Highway 98.
5. Close off some (most?) of the median breaks to reduce people making left turns except at controlled points (i.e. traffic lights).
6. Either permit legal U-turns at the traffic lights OR build mini ‘clover leaf’ right turn exits at traffic lights. I have seen many of these in my travels around the country, especially in the mid-Atlantic and New England states. It is a popular alternative to parallel service roads that are more commonly seen in the south.
7. If and when Highway 98 is widened to 6 lanes, I would recommend adding sidewalks and bicycle lanes as was done on Highway 87 through and north of Navarre, and when the Three Mile Bridge in Gulf Breeze was rebuilt. Difficult to safely bicycle or walk Highway 98 presently. There have been numerous injuries and fatalities where sidewalks were not available.
Roads should not be just for cars, RVs, trucks, and motorcycles. Not everyone drives and some like to exercise by walking, running, or bicycling.
Dear God your out of your mind everything you mentioned would keep people on 98 longer
Don’t feed back into 98! All that traffic would still have to join at ANOTHER light! If you got to have a diverter road, add another gate to HAFB! All the idiots stopping in the LEFT lane to pull a U turn and go back to the gate or STOP in the middle of 98 because the on and off ramps were poorly planned and do not allow for the traffic to EXIT 98 first…. the studies are worthless because they NEVER talk to the people who live and use the road!