PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Drivers on a stretch of Olympia Avenue in Punta Gorda are facing a bumpy ride, with elevated manhole covers and uneven pavement.
The mogul looking asphalt mounds on E. Olympia, part of which runs through downtown, are included in a Florida Department of Transportation project that will repave the road from US-41 to Bermont Road. It includes milling, resurfacing, pavement reconstruction, widening, drainage improvements, new guardrails and updated markings according to FDOT.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on the bumpy ride:
Vice-Mayor Greg Julian said FDOT has only laid part of the pavement so far.
“They’ve done the first course and left these manholes slightly elevated,” he said. “But there will be a second course once the underground work is done, the final surface, and it should be very nice.”
But according to FDOT documents, that project won't be finished until July of 2026.
"That would be bad, we can't live with it like this for an entire year," Julian said.
City leaders say they lobbying FDOT to try and expedite the project.
Meanwhile, on W. Olympia, the city is dealing with its own pavement issues. The 600 block of W. Olympia was repaved in April, but the surface is uneven, with the asphalt shifting out of place
City Manager Melissa Reichert said the 600 block of W. Olympia was repaved in late April after a "two block segment of Olympia Ave. was rapidly deteriorating and required frequent patching.”
Reichert told Fox 4 that the "tack and asphalt did not properly adhere to the milled area. This is causing the asphalt to slide."
She said the city’s contractor is aware of the problem and is working with its insurance company to resolve it, and because the work is under warranty, the city will not incur any additional costs. She added that the city is coordinating with the contractor to set a timeline for the re-milling and repaving, which will happen soon though no official date has been set.
Until both sections are fixed, drivers are being urged to buckle up and take it slow.
