FDOT completes S.R. 64 expansion

EAST COUNTY — Although drivers have used State Road 64 for more than a month without the interference of construction barricades, the Florida Department of Transportation officially completed its widening of the roadway June 18.

FDOT consultant and project spokeswoman Trudy Geneva said the $12.7 million project to widen a 2.5-mile stretch of State Road 64 from four to six lanes from Carlton Arms Boulevard to just west of Interstate 75 finished nearly a year behind schedule.

Completion had been scheduled originally for August 2013.

“To drive through and look, you would have thought (it was finished) a month or two ago,” Geneva said. “The contractor did its best to get the (construction) barrels out of the way.”

Final punch-list items completed included the repair of a drainage pipe and completion of sidewalks.

“All of us are very happy,” Geneva said. “I think the citizens are very glad, too. It was one of those never-ending projects.”

Geneva said weather and holidays delayed the project slightly, but not entirely. FDOT penalized contractor Better Roads Inc. for falling behind schedule. The delay affected the company’s grade, which FDOT uses when bidding out projects.

The expansion is considered a capacity project, meaning it was designed to accommodate increased traffic flow on the roadway.

It also included signalization improvements at several interchanges along the route, as well as the addition of bicycle and pedestrian lanes to both sides of S.R. 64. 

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].