OKEECHOBEE — Okeechobee County Commissioners Thursday voted to offer Florida Department of Transportation a deal. The county will accept responsibility for maintenance of a section of Martin …
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OKEECHOBEE — Okeechobee County Commissioners Thursday voted to offer Florida Department of Transportation a deal. The county will accept responsibility for maintenance of a section of Martin County’s CR 714 only if Florida Department of Transportation puts in a full signal light at the intersection of SR 710 and County Road 15B.
FDOT’s plans for CR 714 (sometimes called Martin Grade) include a realignment which will move part of the road over the county line into Okeechobee County, aligning it with Okeechobee County Road 15B. FDOT has asked the county to accept responsibility for maintenance of the portion of the roadway that will then be in Okeechobee County.
“What we are going to inherit is dead man’s curve, just moved into our county,” said Commissioner David Hazellief. He said the county should get something out of it.
“The state’s record of producing something after the fact is not real stellar,” agreed Commissioner Bryant Culpepper. He agreed the county should not accept ownership and maintenance of the road unless FDOT puts in a stop light.
“My fear is many times the state doesn’t always follow up with what they say they propose to do,” he said.
“We need to stand our ground,” said Commissioner Hazellief. He added that the agreement should be clear that this will be full signalization at the intersection connecting with CR 15B.
“If we just say signalization, they could put a flashing light on top of a stop sign and blow us off,” he said.
The commissioners asked the attorney to work with the administrator on the wording required in the agreement.
“They can build it if they want to, but we are not going to maintain it unless they put in the signalization,” said Mr. Cassels.