By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Ryan Asmus, lead engineer for the U.S. 19 Project Development and Environment study, says the Florida Department of Transportation is solely focused on adding managed lanes to I-75 rather than the Northern Turnpike Extension.
Asmus, speaking to a Spotlight reporter before the start of the Dec. 12 Chiefland City Commission meeting said the term managed lanes means the lanes will most likely be toll lanes that motorists can choose if they don’t want to remain on I-75 itself.
He said the managed lanes are the focus of DOT. I-75 is becoming congested in some areas.
The Northern Turnpike Extension ran into fierce opposition from Levy County residents who feared that their homes and property would be destroyed or their property values ruined if the toll road was built through or near their quiet residential properties in scenic rural areas.
Residents had suggested widening I-75 with more lanes than building the Northern Turnpike Extension. Opponents mounted a relentless and extremely organized campaign of opposition to the Northern Turnpike Extension being constructed through Levy County, often reminding those who ran for state or county offices that there would be consequences in elections if they were betrayed.
The U.S. 19 PD&E is a long-range study aimed at preserving free traffic flow on the highway after the Suncoast Parkway is connected to U.S. 19 a few miles south of Inglis at the unincorporated community of Red Level in Citrus County. The Florida Turnpike Enterprise will design, engineer, and build the new toll road connector.
Asmus estimated the length of the connecting toll road between the Suncoast Parkway at State Road 44 in Citrus County and U.S. 19 at Red Level is about 12 miles. He said the Florida Turnpike Enterprise hasn’t finished designing or engineering the road nor has it purchased the right-of-way. The Florida Turnpike Enterprise is the division of DOT that builds and maintains the turnpike toll road system in Florida.
Asmus said it will be several years before all the paperwork associated with designing and engineering the road is finished. When the right-of-way is purchased, construction of the toll road will take several more years to complete.
In the meantime, DOT is engineering improvements to U.S. 19 that will maintain free traffic flow on the highway. The current four lanes of U.S. 19 will never become a toll road. State law prohibits free highways from being converted to paid toll roads. Asmus has pledged that U.S. 19 will remain connected to the south and north ends of Chiefland after improvements are made. Motorists will have the option of going through Chiefland or bypassing all the traffic lights. Exactly how that will be accomplished hasn’t been decided. Those decisions will be made in the PD&E study and presented at some point in the future to residents in public workshops and hearings.
Asmus regularly attends Chiefland City Commission meetings. When possible, he works with the city to resolve issues associated with U.S. 19. He worked through DOT to allow Martin Luther King, Jr. signs to be mounted on the cross bars of the U.S. 19 traffic light at Park Avenue in the city.
At the Dec. 12 meeting, he clarified that golf carts wouldn’t be allowed to travel on U.S. 19 or cross U.S. 19 at the intersection between Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie in Chiefland without a study by the DOT. The city commission requested a study of that intersection as well as the intersection of U.S. 129 and NE 4th Street to find out if golf cart traffic could use those intersections. The study will take about three to six months. Asmus didn’t attend the city commission meeting to specifically answer questions about golf carts, but he responded to golf cart-related questions from the city commission and audience when requested.
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City of Chiefland Regular Meeting December 12, 2022; Posted December 17, 2022
