Panama City Beach to build traffic signal at West Park Drive and Front Beach Road

Nathan Cobb, The News Herald
Updated ·3 min read

PANAMA CITY BEACH − Traffic safety improvements are around the corner for arguably the busiest area on the Beach.

According to Scott Passmore, assistant program manager of the Corradino Group, Panama City Beach is working to build a new traffic signal at an often congested intersection near Pier Park.

Here's what we know:

To improve pedestrian safety, Panama City Beach is working to build a new traffic signal near Pier Park.
To improve pedestrian safety, Panama City Beach is working to build a new traffic signal near Pier Park.

Where will the traffic signal be built, and why is it needed?

The signal will be installed at West Park Drive and Front Beach Road. West Park Drive is used by motorists to access not only public parking lots for Pier Park, but also Aaron Bessant Park and the Russell-Fields Pier.

Passmore said the signal is needed to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection.

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"There's a lot of pedestrian traffic at that intersection," he said. "The city closes that road for special events quite frequently, so in working with the city manager and the public works department, their request was to make that intersection's primary focus pedestrian traffic, and to move the vehicular traffic to West Park Drive on the perimeter of the development."

What is the CRA, and when will the new traffic signal be built?

The signal will be built as part of Segment 4.1 of the Front Beach Road Community Redevelopment Area Plan. The CRA, which is managed by the Corradino Group, was formed in 2001 with the goals of installing upgraded features such as sidewalks, improved lighting and new street signs along Front Beach Road and its connecting roadways.

In addition to adding the new signal, Segment 4.1 will reconstruct Front Beach Road east of Lullwater Drive to about Hills Road. More than $17 million is budgeted for this segment.

Passmore noted he hopes for construction of the segment to begin late summer of this year and take about three years to complete. That said, he believes the traffic signal might be operational within about two years.

"We are projecting a three-year construction schedule for Segment 4.1, given the complexities of the utility relocations on that project, and also the fact it's kind of also the heart of Panama City Beach, which means we have to keep all the pedestrian areas active," Passmore said. "That's going to be a long project."

What are other future CRA segments?

Along with Segment 4.1, Panama City Beach officials also are working to soon begin construction of segments 4.1 and 4.3.

Segment 4.2 will reconstruct Front Beach Road east of Hills Road to about Lantana Street. Construction is slated to begin toward the end of 2023 or early 2024. More than $17 million is budgeted for this segment.

Segment 4.3 will reconstruct Front Beach Road from Hutchinson Boulevard to about Richard Jackson Boulevard. Construction is slated to begin toward the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024. More than $12 million is budgeted for this project.

"We're currently in the right-of-way acquisition phase for (both) 4.2 and 4.3, and so that process is going to drive our schedule from this point forward," Passmore said. "We're going to expect it will probably take us a minimum of six months on both of those projects to do that."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: PCB to build traffic signal at West Park Drive and Front Beach Road