FDOT reveals plans for State 79 widening
NEW HOPE - State officials discussed the proposed improvements to State 79 at a public meeting that drew about 40 people Tuesday at the Oak Valley Opry.
The improvements, from Potters Springs Road to north of Miller's Ferry Road, are part of a plan to eventually widen the two-lane, 28-mile highway from Ebro to Interstate 10.
A half-mile segment of the highway will have to be rerouted around New Hope.
The new segment of the highway is necessary, Florida Department of Transportation and other officials said Tuesday, because a home in the original path of the widening project could be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Protected under the Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the designated Shipes-Holley House would be affected by widening State 79.
"This house has been designated to be historically significant," said Kirk Stull, project manager for HDR Engineering Inc., which is working on the project. "This house needs to be avoided to obtain federal funding."
When asked about the effect a proposed toll road connecting Montgomery, Ala., and I-10 would have on the project, Stull said he saw the projects as being unrelated, at least for now.
"Right now, it's two totally separate and unrelated projects," Stull said.
"The fact that they've (toll road planners) come forward now doesn't change what's going. In fact, if the toll road is built, it might end up being an addition to this project."