Millions needed to finish Palm Bay road project
Millions needed to finish Palm Bay road project
A new Interstate 95 exit ramp in Palm Bay does not connect to anything because the city has been delayed in completing a road network that will ultimately be served by the ramp. Now, officials say more money will be required to complete the road work.
PALM BAY, Fla. - A new Interstate 95 exit ramp in Palm Bay does not connect to a road. One lawmaker has called out the City of Palm Bay for not keeping up with a project that was approved six years ago. Now, it has been revealed that the cost of completing the project has spiked.
The signs for Exit 166 on I-95 are up, but the ramp itself is closed. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) built the ramp, but Palm Bay is responsible for building the connecting roads. FDOT finished back in August but no one has been able to use it quite yet and now the city says no one will be able to for another few months.
Taxpayer dollars covered the $28 million dollar price tag for the ramp. According to a letter from FDOT, the ramp staying closed costs another $475,000 to reroute the power supply, fix signs and keep traffic out.
Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, is fired up over this unfinished road project, especially after a new state audit found that the city has a $16.4 million dollar debt from it.
"The culture of corruption is real," said Rep. Fine. "A $16 million taxpayer ripoff is a huge deal!"
The audit found that the city planned to fund the project by “primarily private resources” but never got that money from the developer and didn’t properly document the funding for it.
"We have to understand, was it incompetence or was there something a little more nefarious involved?" Fine asked.
Either way, there is still an unfinished road winding around Palm Bay.
We tracked down Palm Bay Councilman Kenny Johnson, who was sworn in last year. He said a lot of these problems stemmed from previous administrators, but he is hopeful there can be a resolution in the near future.
"We’re dealing with the pain right now in 2019, and we still have a chance to make things right," he said.
Rep. Fine said the city needs to figure it out because now the state will be holding Palm Bay accountable. The city has 30 days to respond to the audit with a plan of action. After that, they will have to go before state lawmakers.
The road expected to be completed by December 2.