Gov. DeSantis on Monday announced the Moving Florida Forward initiative to expedite transportation projects over the next four years. It includes $26 million for improvements to U.S. 301 south of the Florida Turnpike.
The project will reconstruct U.S. 301 from County Road 470 to Florida’s Turnpike between Sumterville and Wildwood to increase the roadway capacity, respond to future travel demand, improve overall safety, and accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. The project includes realigning the roadway around the City of Coleman to avoid impacts to the city’s downtown businesses. Wildwood leaders hailed the possibility of this project late last year.
If passed by the Legislature, the Moving Florida Forward initiative would invest $4 billion of general revenue, redirect an average of $131 million annually to the State Transportation Work Program, and leverage additional funding over the next four years for a total of $7 billion to strengthen Florida’s transportation infrastructure to accommodate the growing number of people that rely on Florida’s roadways. Through this record investment, the Florida Department of Transportation would expedite 20 priority infrastructure projects into the existing Work Program to combat congestion, improve safety, and ensure a more resilient transportation system to bolster current transportation needs and set the stage for future growth.
Projects included as part of the Moving Florida Forward Legislative Proposal are available at FDOT.gov/MovingFloridaForward.
“This proposal will break through bureaucracy that often slows down infrastructure projects and allow FDOT to target projects that will ease congestion across the state,” said DeSantis. “Expediting these projects will bring them to completion more than a decade ahead of schedule.”
In 2022, Florida experienced the largest net migration in the country at 1.9 percent, meaning that Florida’s infrastructure must accommodate more people than ever before. The 20 projects included in the proposal will build more resilient transportation infrastructure, which is important to the integrity of roadways and corridors especially during severe weather events such as hurricanes.
