NORTH PORT, Fla. — When you drive on Price Boulevard in North Port, just west of Toledo Blade, you cannot miss the old Price Boulevard expansion project sign. It's from at least 2022, but the project has been in the works for more than a decade.
The road is one of the few east-west main roads in the city.
Find out when construction on the expansion project could start and why it's taking so long:
"Just last week we had an accident on 75 that closed down 75, which pushed a lot of traffic through the city of North Port and then it overburdened Price Boulevard and Sumter and Toledo," said North Port Public Works Director, Chuck Speake.
Between Toledo Blade and Sumter, there's only one lane each way.
With the expansion, it will go to two lanes in each direction, along with a center turn lane.
"It will also add two, 10-foot multi-use paths — one on each side of the roadway," Speake said. "It's the largest project the city of north port has done to date."
He says the cost is about $80 million, which is something voters approved in 2022.
"Without the $80 million in the referendum, we wouldn't have the funds to build this," Speake said.
However, this has been in the works since at least 2015, when the city started to design it.
When 2020 came, Speake said the design sat on a shelf as the city tried to figure out funding. Meanwhile, they started to procure properties to build ponds on the road.
In September 2022, Hurricane Ian hit.
"We were at 100% plans when Hurricane Ian hit and found some weaknesses in our transportation system on Price Boulevard," Speake said.
Four areas washed out, so changes needed to be made to the design.
"We wanted to make sure those crossings were hardened to withstand something like Ian or even worse in the future," Speake said. "It will transition all of the stormwater, the drainage, to underground storage and movement."
Voters approved the referendum in 2022 to finance with bonds. However, it's 2025 and the project still hasn't started. It's something people have also pointed out online.
Knapp asked what is taking so long.
"Funding. Funding is always the challenge in North Port," Speake said. "We don't have the ability to borrow money without going to a referendum to the residents."
Even with the money, an amendment needed approval by City Commission, which happened Tuesday.
"This is a decades-old project," Speake said. "We look to start doing some construction in April of this year."
In order for the city to break ground in April, City Commission needs to approve the final contract on March 18.
It will take up to three years to finish.
