HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – The three-year construction nightmare along State Road A1A in Hollywood Beach is about to come to an end, but residents aren’t as happy as they should be.
That’s because the city is planning to dig up one side of the road again.
Many residents and business owners are questioning the lack of coordination that is ultimately costing taxpayers more money.
A newly construction sidewalk on the west side of A1A will eventually be torn up as the city of Hollywood’s Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA, is planning to bury transmission and cable lines.
The project that’s just ending, which cost $9.3 million, was operated by the Florida Department of Transportation.
A 1.8 mile stretch of A1A was resurfaced, with sidewalks widened and bike lanes added. Lights, signals and drainage systems were also upgraded.
Now the city’s CRA is coming in to spend approximately $4.5 million to place the lines underground.
Who knows what could have been saved if all the work was done at once, when the road and sidewalks were already torn up?
Jorge Camejo, the executive director of the Hollywood CRA, was asked about the lack of communication.
He told Local 10 News that the city did not have information about the state’s plans until it was too late.
“We had hoped that we could combine our efforts,” Camejo said. “At that point, DOT said, ‘No, we need to move forward.’”
In an email to Local 10 News, a spokesman for the FDOT said the project needed to commence due to time constraints tied to the funding of the project.
Camejo said unlike the state’s project, which was a nightmare, full of delays and poor workmanship and a lack of workers on the job, the city’s CRA will oversee the burying of the lines, using a different contractor.
The contract will have penalties for any delays and incentives to get it done faster.
The state’s contract for the original work didn’t have that, for some reason.
Work is expected to begin, again, along A1A in Hollywood Beach at the end of the year.