by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The big piles of dirt are inching closer to the road and you can hear and feel the pilings being driven. More construction trucks seem to arrive daily and there’s a near mountain of PVC pipes where CJ’s once served quarter beers on Tuesday nights.
It certainly looks like the Regency Bypass Phase I project is destined to create a nightmare commute for those who travel Arlington Expressway on a daily basis. However, JTA officials say the inconveniences will be held to a minimum.
“We are trying to maintain traffic flow throughout the entire project,” said JTA’s Wendy Morrow. “It is not on our agenda to close any lanes.”
The bypass is part of a JTA road improvement project that began in 1997 with an $18.5 million bond and another $5.5 million worth of help from the Florida Department of Transportation and is actually the second part of the project. Phase II was completed first and included the flyover that connected Regency Park Boulevard North to Southside Boulevard. The current phase will give motorists headed to Arlington who want to bypass the Arlington Expressway-Monument Road intersection. The project is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2007.
Morrow said there may be sporadic lane closures over the next 15-18 months, but those closures will be held to a minimum and may only occur at night.
“It will be nothing excessive,” said Morrow, pointing out that the I-95/I-295 interchange was constructed with very little traffic disruptions compared to the scope of the project. “Our goal is to maintain the same level of traffic flow. We may end building a temporary road, but we don’t want to close any lanes. If we do close any lanes, we will give plenty of advance notice.”
JTA is also building the roundabout that will allow access to the strip mall that once housed Burlington Coat Factory. However, the developers of the mall are responsible for tenants.
One thing Morrow did ask is that motorists remember that the area is a construction zone. That means people on foot and lower speed limits.
“We hope that motorists will slow down and be cautious,” said Morrow, adding that completing such a project 20 years ago would have been a much bigger issue to commuters. “Engineers are very talented these days.”