Here is what Northwest Florida is getting with some of the stimulus money:
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/stimulus_16442___article.html/state_gaetz.htmlNWF to receive $88 million in stimulus
Dusty Ricketts
April 3, 2009 - 11:45PM
President Barack Obama's economic recovery stimulus is about to bring millions of dollars and thousands of new jobs to Northwest Florida.
State Sen. Don Gaetz announced Friday afternoon that Northwest Florida will receive $88 million for transportation and infrastructure projects as part of the federal stimulus program. Although the funding still must be approved by the state legislative Budget Committee on April 16, Gaetz said that action basically is a formality.
"I would have voted against the stimulus package as presented by the Obama administration if I had been a U.S. Senator and not a state Senator, and I have a number of reasons why," Gaetz said. "But since the dollars are appropriated and going to be coming to Florida, I wanted to make sure Northwest Florida was not forgotten. I was pleased we were able to get our key priorities funded. But obviously, there are other projects further down the priority list we still hope we'll have a chance at."
Okaloosa County is receiving the bulk of the stimulus dollars. The top priority for the region, which will be fully funded through the stimulus program, is the $46 million flyover ramp at the south intersection of State Road 85 and State Road 123 and the reconfiguring of the entrance to Northwest Florida Regional Airport.
One of the stipulations for states to receive stimulus dollars was that projects had to be "shovel ready" and be able to put people to work immediately.
Gaetz said at least half of the funds for the overpass must be allocated in the next 120 days and that the project is expected to employ nearly 1,300 people.
"I want jobs created and people going to work as soon as possible," Gaetz said.
As chairman of the Okaloosa-Walton Transportation Planning Organization, Fort Walton Beach City Councilman Bill Garvie pushed hard for flyover project to receive funding.
"I was hoping for this, but to hear about it is exciting," Garvie. "It had all kinds of things involved in it. You had national security there. You had development of the economy in this area. Those were two major areas here."
Gaetz also said the flyover will be a huge benefit to Eglin Air Force Base, especially with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and the Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) arriving in the near future.
"My hope is that this decision by the state of Florida will help send a positive message to the military that we support them, that we put the needs of military missions high on our priority list," said Gaetz, R-Niceville. "We want to make sure they hear us loud and clear that we want to keep our military mission and we want to keep our military bases."
Other projects being funded by federal stimulus dollars in Okaloosa are the resurfacing Memorial Parkway, Bay Drive, Country Club Avenue, Yacht Club Drive and Wright Parkway in Fort Walton Beach; reconstruction and landscaping work on Scenic Highway 98 in Destin; and sidewalk work on State Road 285 in Niceville and on Brookmeade Drive in Crestview.
Santa Rosa County is expected to receive $11.4 million, most of which will be used to widen Avalon Boulevard. Walton County will get $1.8 million, which will be used to build a pedestrian bridge, sidewalks and a resurfacing project. Escambia and Bay counties will get a total of about $24 million.
If a state cannot move quickly enough on stimulus projects, it could loose its federal funding and the money could be reallocated.
If that happens in other states, Gaetz said he will try to secure more funding for Northwest Florida.
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The actual paper had a diagram of the proposed flyover from northbound Florida 85 onto northbound Florida 123. Otherwise, the intersection will remain the same. Ugh.
They should really use some of this money to upgrade the U.S. 98 intersection with Cody Avenue at the entrance to Hurlburt AFB, but environmental issues (namely salamander that nest right near the proposed interchange) are causing a delay, so that is why this project is not getting any stimulus money.
I am not impressed with the way authorities are going to use the stimulus money (except for the flyover as I use Florida 85 to go to work everyday), especially with the landscaping project along scenic 98 in Destin. I guess they really are shovel ready with that one...

Here is MY list of what they could do with the monies:
1) Interchange with U.S. 98 at Cody Avenue (move the salamander)
2) The northern bypass of U.S. 98 from Florida 87 eastward to Niceville to connect with the proposed Niceville-Mid-Bay Bridge connector
3) Widening of Florida 87 from Holley north through Eglin AFB to the other completed four-lane section (at Santa Rosa 184)
4) Upgrade a few portions of U.S. 98 to expressway standards with grade separated interchanges at key intersections between Gulf Breeze and Fort Walton Beach
5) Six-lane Interstate 10 between the Pensacola bridge and the Florida 291 (Davis Hwy) interchange (Exit 13) (this should have been done in conjunction with the I-10/I-110 project)
6) Extend the extra lane in each direction from west of the I-110 interchange to U.S. 29 (Exit 10AB). The current lane reduction at the Palafax Street overpass creates a bottleneck at times.
7) Reconfigure the U.S. 29 interchange to remove the left-hand on-ramps on Interstate 10.
Those are just a few that I can readily think of...