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Punta Gorda MPO advances draft 2050 long-range transportation plan to public comment
Summary
The Punta Gorda Metropolitan Planning Organization approved a motion to open a 30-day public comment period on its draft 2050 Long Range Transportation Plan, which identifies about $350 million (present‑day value) in projected revenues and prioritizes studies and corridor projects including an I‑75/Kings Highway study and Harborview intersection improvements.
The Punta Gorda Metropolitan Planning Organization on Aug. 4 voted to open a 30-day public comment period on its draft 2050 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), moving the adoption package toward a formal vote at the board’s Oct. 2 meeting.
Board members approved staff’s recommendation to publish the adoption report and begin the comment period, which staff clarified will close on Sept. 5. William Noel and other MPO staff described the plan’s cost‑feasible component as constrained by available revenues and focused on projects and studies that can realistically be advanced between 2031 and 2050.
The report lists roughly $350,000,000 in present‑day value revenue available for FY2031–2050 and prioritizes a subset of high‑priority needs. Key projects and studies in the cost‑feasible plan include operational and widening work on Burnt Store Road and Whiting, intersection improvements on U.S. 41 including Harborview, portions of Jones Loop from Burnt Store to Piper Road, partial right‑of‑way funding for County Road 774, and a study of the I‑75/Kings Highway/Veterans Boulevard interchange. The plan also includes multimodal priorities and illustrative transit and bicycle‑pedestrian projects that would be advanced on an annual prioritization cycle.
Noel said the cost‑feasible plan is a smaller subset of previously identified needs and stressed that if public comment raises substantive changes, the board would need to adopt the plan and then pursue a formal amendment process. “If we receive some kind of dramatic public comment and we come back to you with a recommendation…you will need to adopt the plan that you just approved and then direct your staff to do a plan amendment,” he said.
The board voted with no opposition to open the comment period. Board members emphasized the value of studying phasing and interim operational solutions for large projects, particularly the I‑75 interchange, and asked FDOT to consider phased PD&E (project development and environmental) work where partial funding exists.
Next steps: the MPO will accept public comment through Sept. 5, hold a virtual public workshop on Aug. 14 at 5 p.m., report public-comment highlights at the Oct. 2 meeting, and return the adoption package for a formal adoption vote.
