A controversial one-mile stretch of road is one step closer to being fully reconstructed.
On Monday, Lakeland city commissioners agreed to pay for the design phase of the reconstruction project on South Florida Avenue (SR 37), which includes removing concrete barriers, constructing two 11-foot-wide travel lanes and an 11-foot-wide two-way left turn lane, and 11.5-foot sidewalks.
Austin Hayes is the owner of Dixieland Relics, a vintage antique and plant shop that sits on South Florida Avenue in the Dixieland Corridor.
“I have literally seen quite a few accidents in front of the shop,” said Hayes. “Luckily, we’re a little further off of the road, so it’s unlikely a car will run through the building, but I’ve seen it on several buildings around here.”
Why you should care:
As more people move to Lakeland, traffic on the corridor has only gotten worse, and the “South Florida Road Diet” approved by city commissioners years ago has been a point of contention.
The road between Ariana Street and Lime Street used to be five lanes, but it was too narrow and didn’t meet the state’s safety standards. In 2020, the road was reduced to three lanes and concrete barriers were added on both sides of the road.
The barriers were only supposed to last for a year but lasted a lot longer, which caused a lot of frustration for drivers who complained that fewer lanes slowed traffic. They also complained that they would also accidentally run over the barriers, which damaged their vehicles.
The road diet project was halted after the city and state couldn’t come to an agreement about the $22 million bill.
In addition to paying for the design phase, the city will manage the construction project, though the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will reimburse them for any typical highway reconstruction project costs.
The design phase will cost the city $1,850,000, which will mainly come out of the Downtown and Dixieland Community Redevelopment Agency Trust Funds’ budget.
Hayes said he’d like to see an additional change.
“The Dixieland night market and Dixieland midday market they started doing is pretty popular,” he said. “If there was a crosswalk, so people can push the button to allow people to cross safely, if it wouldn’t hinder traffic.”
Public input on the design is scheduled for this Fall and construction is set to tentatively begin sometime after October 2026.