A long-awaited project to bring the Sawgrass Expressway and Interstate 95 together took a step closer to reality Wednesday.
Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Department of Transportation officials held a press conference to give new details on the big change for commuters known as the Southwest 10th Street Connector Project.
"This is a $766 million project. It was supposed to start in 2025, and we’re getting it started right now," Scott said.
Scott said FDOT moved up construction four years early, to 2021, because of the strong funding for the project. FDOT said the change is needed because of the heavy congestion in that area.
"Remove a lot of the traffic that’s trying to get from one of the freeway facilities to the other, I-95 to the Sawgrass," said Todd Drosky, commissioner for FDOT's District 4.
Even though FDOT and the Governor said this is a long-term solution to traffic, residents who live in the future construction zone say the short-term issue will be noise.
"You have to keep in mind that there’s residential on both sides of 10th Street. This isn’t like 595 where it’s commercial. This is a residential corridor," FDOT project manager Robert Bostian said.
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FDOT said they’re listening to the concerns.
"We have meetings set up typically every week with different resident groups, meeting them in smaller groups, so we can really understand their concerns, and look at ways through our design approach we can address those concerns," Drosky said.
