SR 40 Environmental Feasibility Study

Background Information
Travel demand on SR 40 east of Ocala had grown by the mid-1980’s to a level that produced congestion and unsafe operation. The Ocala/Marion Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) recognized this deficiency first in 1985 by adding a capacity project to the long-range transportation plan. The increasing traffic growth was again reiterated in 1988 when the capacity improvement was added to the MPO short range Transportation Improvement Program.

FDOT began a Project Development and Environmental Study (PD&E), the first step in a road improvement project, responding to the MPO defined need. The project limits were set between Silver Springs and I-95 to encompass a regional approach. SR 40 was added to the Florida Intrastate Highway System in 1990, adding to the regional significance. The initial study was completed for the eastern section, between US 17 and I-95.

FDOT initiated a more detailed PD&E study, including preparation of a full environmental impact statement in 1993, for the section between Silver Springs and US 17 in Barberville. This study made good progress including a thorough assessment of possible alternate corridors for the improvements. However, revised traffic projections prepared in 1997 showed that multi-lane capacity improvements are probably only needed on the eastern and western ends of the project area but not in the middle section through the Ocala National Forest. The regional PD&E study is dropped, in favor of smaller studies that only look at the end sections.

FDOT starts a PD&E study in 1999 focusing on the eastern section of the highway between Silver Springs and CR 314A, where the demand is greatest, and where improvement remains a priority with the Ocala/Marion MPO. Work continues on this study until it becomes clear that issues related to secondary impacts will force consideration of the entire roadway between Silver Springs and Barberville.

At this point, FDOT decides to take a more regional approach and determine if there is interest among various governmental agencies and non-governmental interest groups in jointly assessing the feasibility of improvements to SR 40. The initial phase of this investigation determined a strong level of interest in such a collaborative process, as summarized in the SR 40 Environmental Feasibility Study - Phase 1 document.

Environmental Feasibility Study Scope of Services
The complexity of the issues and the number of strong interests in the outcome of SR 40 decisions led FDOT to conclude that the participation of a broad range of stakeholders would be needed to evaluate the feasibility of improvements to the corridor. The study proceeded in three phases.

Phase I – Preliminary Assessment
This phase involved interviews with a number of potential stakeholders to explore what issues, from their perspective, would need to be addressed in a collaborative process. The interviews also explored the willingness of groups to participate more directly in subsequent phases of the study. The Phase I report, explains the issues identified and makes recommendations regarding options that are available for subsequent phases. The results are in the Phase I Document.

Phase II – Joint Identification of Issues and Strategy Development
During this phase, stakeholders jointly developed a more detailed, common understanding of the issues and developed possible strategies to address them. The Collaborative Process included a series of ongoing stakeholder working groups (Task Force and Technical Subcommittees), workshops, and public meetings. The process sponsors signed a participatory Memorandum of Agreement (Phase II MOA) outlining their roles in the Collaborative Process. The objective of Phase II was to develop another Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in draft form that outlined the policy issues and a strategy that will be used for future project development.

Phase III – Agreement Seeking
During this final study phase, stakeholders explored whether any of the strategies identified in Phase II could be supported by all participants. Possible components included final agreement seeking among participating stakeholders and review, refinement, and adoption of a final report outlining conclusions and recommendations. Recommendations were based on discussions with and among the stakeholders and reflect an agreement reached by them and the best professional judgment of the project team members. The project concluded with a Final Report titled 'SR 40 Corridor Concept Plan and Guiding Principles.'