Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The City of Monticello has gotten a bit of sweet deal from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), relative to the latter’s planned resurfacing of U.S. 19 in 2023.
Word from Monticello City Manager Seth Lawless is that the FDOT will provide about $70,000 worth of utilities work to the city as part of the road’s resurfacing, which is to extend from Washington Street (U.S. 90) 8.3 miles north to the Georgia state line.
Lawless informed city officials at a recent workshop that the FDOT had agreed to relocate the city’s sewer manholes and water valves along U.S. 19 as part of the repaving project. The reason for the FDOT’s generosity, Lawless said, was that the state agency had substantiated the city’s claim of a financial burden if it had to incur the cost of the relocations.
Lawless presented the council with a resolution for the utility relocation agreement on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
The FDOT is currently in the process of preparing the plans for the resurfacing of the interstate road, which will entail repaving the travel and auxiliary lanes, the median crossovers and the paved shoulders.
Others of the planned improvements include upgrading pedestrian features in the city to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADS) standards and adding three bulb-outs at West Dogwood and East and West Pearl streets. The angled street parking will remain as is.
Meanwhile, the FDOT recently concluded a study for a multi-use trail along U.S. 19 from Jefferson County High School on David Road approximately two miles north to the paved trail beginning at Martin Road. The proposed multi-use trail is intended to run primarily along U.S. 19, but portions of it may run on Nacoosa and South Old Drifton roads, as well as the Aucilla Highway.
“While the project is not currently funded for right-of-way acquisition or construction in the department’s five-year work program, $760,000 has been programed for preliminary design engineering in 2023,” Ian Satter, public information director for the FDOT, emailed the News last week.