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Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties have approved an interlocal agreement to study whether two separate collector road projects can be connected to reduce traffic congestion on Highway 98.
- Okaloosa County Commissioners unanimously approved the agreement on Oct. 21, following Santa Rosa County’s approval on Oct. 9. The agreement formalizes a partnership for a $4 million state-funded study to determine if a collector road can connect the two counties’ separate projects.
The study will explore connecting Okaloosa County’s West 98 Collector road with Santa Rosa County’s Navarre Community Access Road. Both projects are designed to run parallel to and north of Highway 98, but currently stop short of extending to the county line, leaving a gap between them.
“This is an opportunity to work with our neighbors – Santa Rosa County,” Jason Autrey, Okaloosa County Deputy County Administrator for Development Services, told commissioners. “We have an interlocal agreement that has been put in place because Okaloosa County is the recipient of a grant from the State of Florida and the amount of $4 million to study a potential – what we’re calling ‘connecting the collectors.’”
- The State of Florida awarded Okaloosa County the grant to conduct a Project Development and Environmental study for a collector roadway connecting the two projects.
Highway 98 is a Strategic Intermodal System route running through both counties. The four-lane road is overcapacity between Navarre and Hurlburt Field, and funding for widening Highway 98 is not imminent, according to the agreement. Many airmen who work at Hurlburt Field live west of the base with Highway 98 as the only continuous east-west connection…