Work is scheduled to begin Dec. 1 on the first phase of a project to expand County Road 466A from the Sumter County line to U.S. Hwy. 27/441.
That phase will run from the Sumter County line east approximately one mile to Timbertop Lane, which marks the northeast corner of The Villages property and will serve as the easternmost entrance to the Villages of Fruitland Park.
Lake County Engineer Fred Schneider said that portion of the roadway—known as Phase Two of the project—will feature four traffic lanes with 30-foot medians, 10 feet wider than the standard.
“There will be plenty of room for landscaping and median features such as light poles,” Schneider said.
At Micro Racetrack Road, where more than 100 vehicles typically jam the intersection during rush hours, new construction will include a traffic light as well as left and right turn lanes onto CR466A, Schneider said.
Most of the property for roadway expansion in the Phase Two section will come from the south side of the existing CR466A pavement.
Workers recently installed barrier walls about 60 feet from the pavement inside the Villages of Fruitland Park development and removed mature trees along the road right-of-way in preparation for road construction.
Lake County’s Notice to Proceed on Phase Two road work gives The Villages 18 months to complete construction of that phase. Fruitland Park Community Development Director Charlie Rector said Villages officials have assured him the work will be completed sooner.
Rector attended a meeting last week to discuss construction of water and sewer mains the Villages is building in conjunction with the highway expansion.
Villages officials told Rector that work on those mains—to the city’s well fields near downtown and a wastewater treatment plant located off Spring Lake Road near Poinsettia Avenue—will be substantially completed by April 15.
The Villages plans to start pulling building permits in April, Rector said, and the first new homes should be ready for certificates of occupancy within 30-45 days.
The remainder of the expansion project will take much longer. Schneider said right-of-way acquisition for Phase One of the project, which runs approximately one-half mile from U.S. Hwy. 27/441 to Sunny Court, is active now and he expects to complete that project by June, after which the county will request construction bids. Phase Three—the middle portion of the project that runs approximately 1.3 miles from Timbertop Lane to Sunny Court—is unfunded.
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