By Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
Officials from Plant City, Lakeland and the Lakeland Economic Development Council believe a $2.2 million improvement package for County Line Road near Interstate 4 will help existing businesses as well as attract new ones to the area.
Construction will begin in April 2013. The changes include:
• A second eastbound right-turn lane on the eastbound I-4 off-ramp at County Line Road;
• A second southbound left-turn lane on County Line Road at South Frontage Road, with the construction of a second eastbound receiving lane on South Frontage Road; and
• Traffic signals on County Line Road at the I-4 eastbound ramps and South Frontage Road Intersections.
Lakeland and the Lakeland Economic Development Council requested funding from the State Economic Development Transportation Fund in 2008. The request came after GTECH Corporation approached Lakeland officials asking for improvements to help serve its new manufacturing facility on 4100 South Frontage Road. GTECH, a gaming technology and services company that employs 8,000 people in 60 different countries, has had its facility on South Frontage Road since 2009.
“The improvements to be constructed are certainly needed to accommodate future growth in the County Line Road corridor and existing safety/operational concerns in the project area,” Chuck Barmby, a Lakeland transportation planner, said. “Area businesses and the public have noted that exiting traffic periodically backs up onto I-4 and that turns at the County Line/South Frontage Road intersection present safety challenges (because of) high volumes and amount of large trucks.”
The City of Plant City, Lakeland, Polk County and the Florida Department of Transportation worked together to create the improvement package, which will cost about $2.2 million. The Polk Transportation Planning Organization has requested $400,000 of additional funding to design and construct the project under one contract. The plan was approved by the Lakeland City Commission Nov. 5. Work is scheduled to be completed by December 2014.
“It was a pleasure working with the Plant City staff on this plan,” Barmby said. “We had common goals regarding the accommodation of full access for the County Line Road/South Frontage Road intersection and received their support throughout the course of this project.”
County Line Road is under Polk County jurisdiction, but for the past decade, Plant City has been involved in negotiations regarding changes and improvements to the road.
“It’s going to benefit that corridor, and it’s a good thing for Plant City for future development and growth,” Plant City Manager Greg Horwedel said. “We have a lot of development planned, and they will need access to that road.”
The interchange improvements were developed to accommodate growth in the Lakeland and Plant City areas in the next 25 years because of economic development projects such as the Lakeland Central Park, located south of Old Tampa Highway; Eagles Landing, in the northeast corner of County Line and I-4; and distribution center projects in West Lakeland such as those completed this year by Publix and Rooms-To-Go.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com..” >http://nationalnanomaterials.com/onlayn-zayavka-na-zaym-na-bankovskuyu-kartu.php