Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority

Have you heard about this group? It was created by the 2005 Florida Legislature and consists of an eight member board
including a member from each coastal county within the Panhandle. Their agenda is the planning of future transportation needs along the U.S. 98 corridor and feeder/connector routes to the north.

There’s a number of projects included in their Master Plan found at
http://www.nwftca.com/MP_Phase2/NFTCA-Master-Plan-2007.pdf

Notable ones:
North Pensacola Beltway – a freeway from U.S. 90 near AL state line to U.S. 90/FL 87/I-10 at Milton

New Pensacola Bay Bridge – Pensacola Airport to FL 281 !!??

Garcon Point Bridge – four lane (noone uses it because of the astronomical toll)

FL 281 – four lane from new Bay Bridge to I-10

Navarre Bypass – a freeway from FL 87 to Fort Walton Beach/Niceville Bypass

Fort Walton Beach/Niceville Bypass – a freeway from Navarre Bypass to Mid-Bay Bridge Extension

Mid-Bay Bridge Extension – construct freeway from Mid-bay Bridge to north of Florida 20; this ties into the Niceville-Freeport Connector, a freeway leading north US 331, which is to be four-laned to Interstate 10.

West Bay Bypass – freeway from US 98 to Freeport

Freeport-West Bay Connector – freeway from FL 77 to U.S. 331 at Freeport

Complete interchange of US 98 at Thomas Drive (Bay County 3031). Presently only the eastbound half is open, with U.S. 98 attaining limited access standards from Front Beach Road eastward to the end of the Hathaway Bridge.

Approaching U.S. 98 on Florida 30 (former U.S. 98 Alternate) eastbound in Panama City Beach. Eastbound travelers ascend onto a viaduct over Thomas Drive directly to the Hathaway Bridge. The westbound segment of the viaduct remains unconstructed.

U.S. 98 at 23rd Street – new interchange between the two roadways in west Panama City.

A completed project that was authorized by the Corridor Authority includes the relocation of U.S. 98 from Pine Street in St. Joe Beach to Gulf County 386. The Gulf County portion is already completed; a bypass of Mexico Beach in Bay County is planned to extend the new alignment northwest to U.S. 98 at Tyndall Air Force Base.

The beginning of the new U.S. 98 alignment in Gulf County. Windmark Beach represents a mixed-used community that will be built over the original U.S. 98 coastal alignment. Check out the siteplan and note that the original U.S. 98 alignment originally traveled along the coast (we have photos of this from 2006 in the queue for what it’s worth).

Additional studying is underway on the potential relocation of U.S. 98 inland to bypass the Franklin County coast. The present two lane alignment hugs the coastline from Apalachicola northeastward. Current work focuses on erosion control throughout the entire coastal routing within the county.