Projects planned for Tower and Archer roads

Motorists who live along or frequently travel on Tower Road have long endured bumpy trips because of the deteriorating condition of the surface.

Now that resurfacing has begun, drivers are getting anxious for the project and want to know more about it. Among them is Paula Crowley.

“ ... will any of it become four lane since this is a heavily traveled north-south connector between Newberry and Archer Roads?” Crowley asked in a recent email.

Brian Singleton with Alachua County’s Public Works Department gave the details of the project.

Tower Road will be resurfaced from Archer Road to Southwest Eighth Avenue. It will remain at two lanes but turn lanes will be added at 45th Place, 42nd Avenue, the Tower Road Library, 19th Place, 18th Boulevard and 13th Road.

Singleton added that southbound bus turnouts will be built at the library and at Veterans Memorial Park. A Florida Department of Transportation grant will pay for a multi-use path on the west side of the road from 26th Place to Eighth Avenue. A private developer will construct additional turn lanes for a future development at 13th Road.

Work began in early April and is expected to last six months.

Meanwhile, Archer Road would probably not make anyone’s list of pretty thoroughfares, given its “Everytown USA” conglomeration shopping centers with chain stores and restaurants, small strip plazas and other businesses, along with a proliferation of driveways and side streets.

But DOT is going to try to elevate the aesthetics of Archer. Troy Roberts of the DOT Lake City district office said a beautification project will begin June 4, weather permitting.

Oasis Landscape Services will do the $738,118 project set for between 16th Street and 78th Street on Archer Road.

“Work will primarily be contained to the medians ... as crews remove and replace the landscaping,” Roberts said in a news release. “Muskogee crape myrtles, boardwalk live oaks, winged elms and perennial peanut grass will be added to the medians to enhance the overall look of the corridor. Additionally, temporary irrigation will be added.”

Minimal traffic and business impacts are expected and no lane closures are allowed from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Saturday. The project is scheduled to be completed this winter.