PRIVATE FIRM OFFERS TO HELP WIDEN U.S. HWY 331 IN FREEPORT

This following proposal is a major opportunity for the City of Freeport and the surrounding areas. With the opening of the new Panama City International Airport in 2010, this will make the Freeport area prime for further development.


Private firm offers to help widen U.S. 331
Proposal is the first of its kind submitted to regional Corridor Authority
By TOM McLAUGHLIN Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4435 tomm@nwfdailynews.com

SANTA ROSA BEACH — In what could be a major development, a private business has offered to partner with a regional transportation panel to widen a portion of U.S. Highway 331, including the Clyde B. Wells Bridge. Randall McElheney, chairman of the Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority, announced Thursday that he has received a letter from a company called Moving US 331 Forward LLC. In the “unsolicited” proposal, the company offers to “design, build, operate and finance transportation facilities which will provide additional capacity for U.S. 331 in Walton County.” “Our proposal is to widen to four lanes the portion of U.S. 331 from the southern end of Choctawhatchee Bay Bridge to its intersection with State Road 20,” the letter states. The offer is significant for a couple of reasons. Not only is it the first of its kind the Corridor Authority has received since it was formed nearly four years ago, it also could offer a way to fund a nearly $400 million project. “In my book, this is a stimulus package. It’s a half-billion-dollar stimulus that’s not reliant on federal dollars,” Jay Odom, the Corridor Authority’s vice chairman, said at the panel’s meeting in Santa Rosa Beach. Local officials have lobbied for years to have U.S. Highway 331 widened. The road and the bridge over Choctawhatchee Bay is the lone north-south evacuation route from South Walton. Moving US 331 Forward was founded by Denver Stutler, a former district secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation, and Lowell Clary, an assistant secretary. “We got kind of frustrated trying to do things on the public side, so we thought we’d try on the private side,” Clary told the Corridor Authority. The proposal is a first step in what will be a long process. The authority, having never received an unsolicited proposal, had to set a fee to submit such documents. It settled on a tentative charge of $50,000. That money will be used to advertise the proposal and to notify other potential bidders of its existence. Once advertisements are published, other firms that might be interested in competing for the project have 60 days to provide proposals. Moving US 331 Forward’s letter to the board was short on details. It too will have 60 days to prepare a more extensive business plan after its fees are paid and the advertising is run, according to Corridor Authority attorney Mike Duncan. The Corridor Authority also must get support from the Walton County Commission. Neither Jim Anders, the county’s representative on the authority, nor Ronnie Bell, the county administrator, had any reason to suspect commissioners might oppose the idea. “This public-private partnership might be the only way we can move forward with this project in the immediate future,” Anders said. “I don’t see anything that might keep the commissioners from supporting the concept.” The Walton County Commission meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday in DeFuniak Springs.