Eglin bypass ideas drawn up
The bypass through the Eglin Air Force Base reservation grew legs Thursday, as engineers introduced 11 recommendations for access points for the proposed road.
Representatives of HDR Engineering, which is developing the Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority’s master plan, presented the options. As with all details of the plan, the proposed access points can be changed, they said.
“They’re not set in stone,” said Ray Reissener, a vice president for HDR. “These are first cuts.”
As of now, the bypass would snake east from State Road 87 in Santa Rosa County along the southern edge of the reservation. It would then veer north around Fort Walton Beach and Niceville and end at U.S. Highway 331 in Walton County.
If the military and the Corridor Authority go along with the HDR’s recommendations, on and off ramps would be at these points, from east to west: ¿ SR 87. ¿ U.S. Highway 98. ¿ Martin Luther King Boulevard near Hurlburt Field’s back entrance. ¿ State Road 189. ¿ State Road 85 south of Niceville. ¿ SR 85 north of Niceville. ¿ State Road 285 in Niceville. ¿ Near the Mid-Bay Bridge. ¿ State Road 20 east of the Mid-Bay connecter. ¿ SR 20 about three miles east of the first SR 20 ramp. ¿ U.S. 331. Reissener said his team felt confident discussing the options following Gov. Charlie Crist’s visit to Eglin, where base officials briefed the governor about the proposed bypass.
Details of the route had been vague prior to Crist’s visit.
“The military kind of went public with it here lately, so we decided to throw this up for you,” Reissener told the board at its meeting in Pensacola.
The bypass is a main component of several road projects the Corridor Authority is advocating. The authority was created in 2005 to find ways to relieve congestion on U.S. 98 from Escambia County east to Wakulla County, develop hurricane evacuation routes and promote business development.
HDR representatives will meet with Eglin officials Oct. 4. That could be the last meeting to discuss the proposed bypass, according to HDR’s Chad Jacob’s.
“We hope to have conceptual approval from the military by Oct. 31,” Jacobs told panel members.
Base officials will likely insist the authority plan additional ramps that would be restricted to Air Force use.
“We're working in close collaboration with the Northwest Florida Corridor Authority on such key issues as identifying where military-use only access ramps should be placed on the bypass,” said Bob Arnold, chairman of Eglin’s Mission Enhancement Committee. “These access ramps are important because they protect Eglin’s access to key restricted areas within the reservation.”
“I’m confident we’ll be able to work with the authority to make sure military use and public access ramps are placed where they’ll benefit both the motorists who use the bypass and Eglin’s military mission.”
Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1435