BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — Call Street will be caught up in a resurfacing project sometime early next year, resulting in traffic detours to some already battered streets.
Jamie Driggers, who works in project planning and environmental management for the Florida Department of Transportation, shared those plans with the city commission Oct. 18.
The project will finally settle the Call Street ownership issue. At one point Starke was going to take ownership of the Call Street portion of State Road 230, but city commissioners reconsidered that agreement given the maintenance costs.
With FDOT maintaining ownership, changes are necessary for the street to meet the agency’s standards as well as its own expectations for future maintenance. That means removing the bricks at the intersections of Walnut and Thompson streets.
Those intersections were modified as part of a downtown beautification project, and the changes were allowed with the understanding Starke would one day be fully responsible for maintaining them.
The compromise is that the bricks will be replaced with a colored, stamped concrete at the intersections. If that sounds familiar, it is because the same technique is a part of the State Road 100 railroad overpass design.
Driggers told the commission that the ongoing overpass project made now the perfect time to take care of the long awaited paving of Call Street. The planned changes will help tie the aesthetic of the overpass to downtown’s historic feel.
The work is planned for early 2023, but FDOT is preparing the city now, because there will be unavoidable street closures and detours downtown during the resurfacing project.
To keep downtown accessible to traffic, only one side of the street will be paved at a time. Navigating downtown will rely on detours to other city streets, including Cherry Street and Jackson Street, which are also in need of improvements.
Downtown Call Street will close for three weeks to eastbound traffic and three weeks to westbound traffic, based on the current plan.
Driggers said the bricks removed from the intersection will be returned to the city for possible relocation.
The target date for completion of the railroad overpass project on State Road 100 is next summer. According to FDOT’s Nathan Pick, construction continues based on the contractual requirements and reflects the plans previously shared with the public.
“The project will improve traffic flow and enhance emergency response times at the Starke railroad overpass. Additionally, one-way frontage roads will be constructed to allow local access to Cherry, Church, Thompson and Walnut streets, multiple local roadways will be resurfaced and additional parking will be provided,” Pick said.
