Construction work has resumed on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 in Lady Lake as officials have rejected the idea of naming a section of the roadway after a worker who died there last week.
John Joseph Terranova, 27, of Leesburg, died after a retaining wall caved in on him and he was buried in rubble at about 4:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at the site where the bridge over County Road 25 is being dismantled. It took emergency personnel about 10 hours to recover his body.
Work on the roadway was paused after Terranova’s death. The following day, an inspector from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was at the site leading an investigation.
Terranova was working for Maylor Foundation Contractors, a subcontractor of Southland Construction, the primary construction company for the U.S. Hwy. 27/441 widening project.
Work has now resumed on U.S. Hwy. 27/441.
“The Florida Department of Transportation has and will continue to discuss safety on this project with the contractor to ensure a culture of safety is enforced in the work zone,” said Jessica Ottaviano, public information director for FDOT District Five.
She said the investigation is continuing into the fatal accident.
Lady Lake Commissioner Ed Freeman on Monday suggested naming the roadway after Terranova, but his fellow commissioners swiftly rejected the idea.
“If we are going to name anything, it ought to be for somebody who contributed to the town,” said Commissioner Ruth Kussard, during the meeting at Lady Lake Town Hall.
However, Freeman countered that Terranova paid a steep price for the road widening-project that will benefit the economy of the town.
“He died building the highway,” Freeman said.
