Lakeland moves ahead with Combee Road waste-transfer facility, despite congestion concerns

LAKELAND — Lakeland officials have pushed forward with the city's plan to build a solid waste transfer facility on Combee Road despite concerns about long-term traffic congestion and the safety of the roadway.

The City Commission voted 6-0 Monday to approve heavy industrial zoning on 17 acres at 2700 N. Combee Road with a conditional use permit to allow for the construction of a solid waste transfer facility. Mayor Bill Mutz was absent at Monday's meeting.

"The largest benefit is the safety of our trucks and our people working," said Gene Ginn, Lakeland's manager of solid waste and recycling. "Inside the transfer station you are dumping on a concrete floor instead of an active construction zone or an active landfill."

Ginn said the city's garage trucks cost approximately $400,000 each, and driving into a landfill can cause a vehicle to get stuck in soft ground or have materials wrap around moving parts causing costly damage.

The goal is add between two and three years to a truck's lifespan, Ginn said, creating a cost savings for the city.

The plans — about 50% designed by Geosyntec Consultants Inc. — call for the construction of a 20,000-square-foot enclosed transfer building for the dumping of solid waste. It will stand a little more than 56 feet in height.

Lakeland trucks will drive across a scalehouse, measuring the vehicle's volume of trash, into the enclosed building to dump trash on a concrete floor, where it can be sorted. The trash will be loaded into significantly larger trucks to make its way to its final destination — whether that be a landfill or recycling center.

As the project is about halfway through design, Ginn said it will be about a year to a year and a half before construction of the facility starts. It will take at least two years before operations can begin.

What about the trucks on Combee Road?

Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley was among the first Lakeland officials to raise concerns at Friday's agenda study about how the solid waste transfer station could impact traffic congestion on Combee Road.

Chuck Barmby, Lakeland's planning and transportation manager, said Combee Road, or State Road 659, is used by approximately 17,000 vehicles a day. Of that, about 15.5% is truck traffic coming from companies like Saddle Creek Logistics Services and other nearby trucking facilities. The road is classified as a truck route, Barmby said.

"This is kind of the poster child of a corridor that needs something," he said at the agenda study.

The project's traffic study showed it's expected to add 140 truck trips daily to the road when fully built and operational in 10 years. More immediately, it's anticipated to add 56 truck trips during peak morning rush hour, 7 to 9 a.m., and add 22 truck trips during the evening rush, from 4 to 6 p.m.

To help counter the impact of this, the city has designed the solid waste transfer station to be internally connected with an existing Lakeland Electric substation. The substation's existing driveway will be closed off and removed.

"This is a relatively low trip generator," Barmby said.

McCarley asked whether adding a turn lane to the road would help improve traffic and safety, by providing a space for trucks to wait as they turn into the solid waste transfer station.

Barmby said there are several roadway improvement projects in progress for the Combee Road area.

The Florida Department of Transportation is in the process of what is called a "complete street" project, Barmby said, which will include improvements such as sidewalks, turn lanes, street lighting and more going down to U.S. 98/Bartow Road. The state does not have any construction funding set aside for this project, Barmby said.

Solar boom: Polk County among Florida's hotbeds for utility-scale solar power plants

There is $2.5 million in the budget to have sidewalks installed on the west side of Combee Road running from Morgan Combee Road south to East Memorial Boulevard. FDOT has funds to complete this in 2028, Barmby said.

"It's still a few years out, but it's a substantial investment in bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure in the area," he said

Lakeland city staff will be working with Polk County and the Polk Transportation Planning Organization, or TPO, to discuss traffic and safety improvements that can be made at Combee and Saddle Creek roads, Barmby said.

FDOT also has accelerated the reconstruction of the Interstate 4 interchange at State Road 33, just east of Lakeland, which was funded as part of the Moving Florida Forward Initiative. It will see the four-laning of State Road 33 and reconstruction of the exit 38 interchange to the north of the future solid waste transfer station. Construction is expected to start later this year.

With many roadway improvements proposed or designed for Combee Road, the city's biggest need is funding.

"This is an area we have the most significant amount of funding challenges where it comes to dollars coming in from the federal or state levels," Barmby said.

FDOT will still have to review and permit the city's proposed changes to Combee Road as part of the planning and design process.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland moves ahead with Combee Road waste-transfer facility