Panama City Beach opens westbound lane of new roundabout in Front Beach Road CRA

PANAMA CITY BEACH − Motorists this week gained access to another portion of a highly anticipated traffic upgrade on the Beach.

According to Scott Passmore, assistant program manager for the Corradino Group, said that as of Monday, drivers could use the westbound lane of the roundabout being built at Front Beach Road and South Arnold Road. The eastbound lane opened in December, leaving only its northbound and southbound lanes still under construction.

Passmore expects for them to be complete and open by late spring or early summer.

"We're opening the roundabout in stages to get traffic used to navigating it," he said. "Roundabouts operate much more efficiently than a signalized intersection. They also operate with a much higher safety factor. ... The types of accidents you have at traffic signals, due to drive error, can be fatal accidents. At a roundabout, if you have incidents, they tend to be nonfatal."

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The Corradino Group manages Panama City Beach's Front Beach Road Community Redevelopment Area Plan, a project that began more than two decades ago to install tram lanes, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, improved lighting, new street signs and landscaped medians along Front Beach Road and its connecting roadways.

The roundabout is being built as part of Segment 3 of the CRA. It includes the reconstruction of Front Beach Road west of South Arnold Road to about about Lullwater Drive, as well as along South Arnold Road from Front Beach Road to Panama City Beach Parkway (Back Beach Road).

Passmore said construction of Segment 3 began in the spring of 2021, and he hopes for it to be complete by the end of this year.

"That's our goal, and that's our push," he said. "We obviously have continuing challenges with utilities (and) material availabilities, but we're doing everything we can to push that forward. We've made tremendous progress in the last three or four months."

Three other segments of the CRA also are scheduled to begin construction this year. They are:

• Segment 4.1 − Reconstruction of Front Beach Road east of Lullwater Drive to about Hills Road. Construction is scheduled to begin toward the middle of the year. More than $14.309 million is budgeted for this project.

• Segment 4.2 − Reconstruction of Front Beach Road east of Hills Road to about Lantana Street. Construction is scheduled to begin toward the end of 2023 or beginning or 2024. About $17.159 million is budgeted for this project.

• Segment 4.3 − Reconstruction of Front Beach Road from Hutchinson Boulevard to about Richard Jackson Boulevard. Construction is scheduled to begin toward the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024. About $12.254 million is budgeted for this project.

Passmore said Panama City Beach still is working to acquire the land needed for segments 4.2 and 4.3. He said this is the "one wildcard" that might cause their construction to break ground in 2024.

"We are just now beginning that process of acquiring the real estate for segments 4.2 and 4.3," Passmore said. "As we go forward in that process, the courts kind of set those schedules. We'll negotiate with property owners on the acquisition of property. If they object to that, it tends to go to a court process, and that court process can be extended.

"We can't start the projects until the real estate is acquired. ... That will drive the schedule from this point forward."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City Beach opens a new lane on Front Beach Road roundabout