After falling behind schedule on three federally funded projects last year, Osceola County is back on track and ready to begin construction this month, officials said this week.

Road resurfacing projects on Buenaventura Boulevard from Boggy Creek Road to the Osceola-Orange County line, Neptune Road from U.S. Highway 192 to Old Canoe Creek Road and John Young Parkway from U.S. Highway 192 to Carroll Street will break ground by the end of the month, County Project Manager Gregg Hostetler said.

The county was eligible to receive a combined $4.6 million in funding last year from President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus package for the three projects.

But in August, the county fell behind on completing construction plans for the projects, which are required by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“It wasn’t deficiencies in the plan,” Public Works Administrator Ken Atkins said. “The plans just hadn’t moved far enough along for us to hit the stimulus schedule.”

To get back on track, the Public Works department put together a team of consultants and staff to speed up the plan and help the county meet the department’s deadline and ultimately secure funding for the three projects, Atkins said.

“It was a team effort,” he said.

Now, the county has already secured funding for the projects.

“After we found that we were behind, we quickly worked to get caught up,” Hostetler said.

According to a Metroplan Orlando update, the projects were set to begin construction in mid-January, and be completed by March 31.

Three additional projects also have been brought to “shovel-ready” status for which the county is seeking funding, Hostetler said, should more stimulus dollars be doled out by the Florida Department of Transportation.

“There’s a possibility a portion of those projects will be funded,” he said.

Landscaping improvements on Buenaventura Boulevard already have been completed but were not paid for using federal stimulus dollars.