TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (WMBB) —- There’s been quite a bit of progress on that highway overpass project at Tyndall Air Force Base.
Workers are removing the traffic light on Louisiana Avenue to make it easier to get from one side of the base to the other
Base officials have now opened a section of the new roadway.
“We’re underway,” 325th Operations Support Squadron Lieutenant Colonel Danny Gill said. “The base is changing, we’re building, we’re growing. And all the promises that have been coming down for years now are starting to take shape.”
The opening of the Louisiana Avenue underpass marks a major milestone for both the Air Force Base and the Florida Department of Transportation.
“Tyndall Air Force Base is divided by Highway 98,” Gill said. “In order to get from one side to the other, officials used to have to exit and reenter the base. However, now, thanks to the opening of this underpass, they can now seamlessly travel back and forth.”
Prior to the underpass, traveling from one side of the base to the other could take up to 30 minutes.
Gill said it now only takes him five minutes to make the same trip.
Transportation officials actually began planning the $20 million project before Hurricane Michael.
“Connecting both portions of Tyndall Air Force Base, allowing them to enhance their mission activities and be able to complete them more quickly and efficiently,” FDOT Spokesperson Ian Satter said.
In addition to unifying Tyndall, the project is also designed to help the flow of traffic on Highway 98.
“The original area where you had the Tyndall Air Force main entrance was a signal intersection where you’d have to have traffic stop at that intersection for mission requirements to go north and southbound on the base,” Satter said.
Officials said they expect the entire project to be completed by the end of the year.
