Panama City - Dothan - Montgomery I-10 Toll Connector Not Welcome in Washington County

Seen in the Dothan Eagle:

With the Florida panhandle county of Washington deciding Monday to pass on a proposed toll road, organizers say they will continue with the project and are now focusing on their eastern neighbor, Jackson County. [...]

Washington County held two public meetings about the proposed road, and commissioners faced overflow crowds full of residents concerned about eminent domain, the process through which a government entity can take ownership of private land. Other residents were concerned the limited access road would allow traffic to zip through the county without stopping to patronize local merchants.

The commission voted 3-2 against entering into an agreement with the toll road organizers to bring the road through the county.

The map at left should help illustrate why this is a bit of an inconvenience to connector proponents.

As I understand it (and I should disclaim that I live in Connecticut, am interested because of family ties and roadgeekiness, but might not be getting the full story up here in Yankee-land), the thinking has been that a Dothan/I-10 connector would run a bit to the west of Dothan.   The shortest route from such a point to the beach would run through Washington County.

Failure for connector proponents to secure right of way in the county would mean that the ultimate alignment will be a bit longer than would otherwise be necessary.

Personally, I find the concerns about business drying up in the county a little short-sighted. 

True, today Washington County gets a bit of a tourist traffic flow, from folks taking the “back way” through Enterprise and Bonifay to the beach, and it’s likely that some of those smaller businesses will suffer if traffic is moving through on a tollway.

However, if a new controlled-access highway is going to be built — be it a freeway or a tollway — it stands to reason that much of the traffic now sneaking through Washington County will shift to the new road.

If the new road passes through the county, there’s some opportunity to develop new businesses and services to take advantage of the increased traffic.   But if the road goes elsewhere…so do the development opportunities.