Red Hills Parkway

[Flats Rascal]

DOT looks at Red Hills parkway
Road project part of proposed deal with St. Joe Co.


By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER




A legislative committee's recent approval of $46 million to buy St. Joe land for roads in the region could finance a toll road around Tallahassee in eastern Leon and Wakulla counties.

The proposed Red Hills-Coastal Parkway, quietly adopted with little or no discussion last December by the regional transportation planning agency, isn't needed now but will be in a few years if the anticipated coastal growth occurs, planners say.

The parkway would link Interstate 10 with U.S. Highway 98 near St. Marks. Another connector would link I-10 with Thomasville Road north of Tallahassee. There's no date for when the road would be built or when necessary studies for the project would begin, said Jack Kostrzewa, interim executive director of the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency.

"If we had to look at it for today, we wouldn't need it for today's traffic," said Kostrzewa (whose name is pronounced Kah-STREW-ah).

But the leader of a statewide environmental group says the proposal is worth watching because it could cause explosive growth in the rural areas of Wakulla and Leon counties.

The four-lane road could cross some land owned by The St. Joe Co., which is building thousands of homes across the region. The company's proposal for more than 5,000 homes along or near U.S. 98 in eastern Franklin County faces a legal challenge.
The Florida Department of Transportation recently received approval of $46 million from the Legislative Budget Commission to buy St. Joe land for various road projects across the Panhandle, including the Red Hills-Coastal Parkway.

The proposed parkway could raise concerns among some residents in northeastern Leon County. Numerous lawsuits over growth were settled four years ago after the county agreed to limit development and maintain rural roads in the Bradfordville area.

The parkway was proposed nearly a year ago by the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency staff as part of its 25-year plan for Leon and parts of Wakulla and Gadsden counties.

The agency board, consisting of elected city and county commissioners from the region, voted unanimously Dec. 5 to accept the plan. There was no comment by the public or commissioners on the parkway, according to meeting minutes.

Leon County Commissioner Bob Rackleff said there was very little discussion of the project in the months leading up to the vote. He said the road is a bad idea that is unrealistic because there won't be enough toll traffic to pay for the road.

"We've just got to get real about our transportation needs," Rackleff said, "and this is just a distraction." Other Leon and Wakulla commissioners could not be reached for comment Friday.

Charles Pattison, executive director of 1,000 Friends of Florida, said the parkway could benefit St. Joe but also threaten natural areas.

"If it attracts development, you may get a result you don't intend to have," he said.

Kostrzewa said the road could be developed with a limited number of interchanges that also limit development.

A detailed study, he said, is needed to determine the exact route, but no such study is planned. The presence of environmental features, such as wetlands, also could restrict development, he said.

"Obviously there would be environmental constraints," he said. "All of that is considered as part of the study."

[BlindHog]

[quoteAnother connector would link I-10 with Thomasville Road north of Tallahassee.

I guess this means the connector would come off of Thomasville Road north of say, Bradfordville to sort of bypass Tally and link on down towards 98?

Did the Democrat have any maps with this article?

[Flats Rascal]

Yes, there was a map in the Democrat. I was unable to re-produce it here. Perhaps it is included in the "Multimedia Download" on the right side of this page...

http://www.tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 9656671527