Officials say State Road 64 expansion almost finished

EAST COUNTY — After more than two years of slowed traffic into and outside the 7-Eleven gas station on State Road 64, Sharon Swigger welcomes the removal of orange traffic cones outside the station’s doors.

Swigger, store manager at the 7-Eleven, which is located in the heart of a project to widen S.R. 64 from four to six lanes from the Braden River to Interstate 75, hopes the change will increase the number of patrons visiting the store. A decrease in foot traffic coincided with the start of construction in 2012.

“We had a lot of construction workers coming in, which was good, but the sensors on the traffic lights were down,” Swigger said. “You could sit at a light for 15 minutes. Construction ruined our business for a while.”

Only minor details remain on the project, which had been slated to finish in fall 2013. Contractors must add permanent paint for striping of the roadways, as well as a final layer of asphalt.

Before deeming the $13.4 million project complete, officials from the Florida Department of Transportation, the agency that funded the project, and the project’s contractor, Better Roads Inc., will walk along State Road 64 in May, to ensure the project meets the requirements on the “punch-list inspection,” said Robin Stublen, communications specialist for FDOT District 1.

The project includes the addition of two lanes, a bicycle lane and a sidewalk and the resurfacing and improvement of four intersections with S.R. 64 west of the Carlton Arms community to Interstate 75 — 43rd Street Boulevard East, 48th Street Court East, 57th Street East and 60th Street Court East.

Those intersections now have new traffic signals, turn areas, curbs, sidewalks, gutters and lighting.

Stublen said the improvements will ease congestion going to and from Interstate 75, shortening commute time and resulting in fewer accidents.

Swigger and fellow 7-Eleven employees vouch for the faster flow of traffic outside their doors and have noticed sale numbers returning to normal.

The FDOT chose to fund the project after reviewing traffic studies that reflected congestion in an area, Stublen said.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].