At its workshop meeting Feb. 22, the Osceola County Commission heard from staff that two of three repaving projects paid for using approximately $4 million in federal stimulus money were under way, with one of them nearing completion.

The John Yong Parkway project, from U.S. Highway 192 to Carroll Street, as of the meeting was near completion, with only the final layer of asphalt still needed along with some clean-up work, staff reported.

The Buenaventura Boulevard project, from Boggy Creek Road to Osceola Parkway, also was under way, while the Neptune Road project, from Old Canoe Creek Road to U.S. Highway 192, had not yet been started.

The repaving work, which involves removing 3 1/2 inches of old asphalt and replacing it with 5 inches to improve the structural value of the roadways, is being done mostly at night to limit traffic disruption. There also are some improvements being made to traffic control and safety features on the roadways as well.

Public Works Principal Project Manager Gregg Hostetler said the county should be spending $9 million in the current budget year for repaving in order to protect its investment in its roadways but that there is only about $2 million for that purpose. The $4 million in federal money, Hostetler said, would help fill the gap this year.

Hostetler also said longitudinal pavement cracks in Buenaventura Boulevard showed that the weight limit for the roadway was being exceeded over the years and that this roadway had the most damage of the three being repaved with federal money.

“Repaving our roadways every 17 years is our goal,” he said. “Some of our roads have exceeded this timeframe.”

Hostetler added that not resurfacing roadways leads to costly repairs later on when there are structural problems, such as culvert failures like that experienced on Buenaventura Boulevard last year. He added that the county has a “lot of culverts that need to be replaced.”

County staff also has prepared and submitted to Metroplan Orlando draft agreements for several other resurfacing projects that could be funded with leftover federal stimulus money or new jobs bill funding, if and when it becomes available.

Those projects, which have already been designed, and their cost include: Boggy Creek Road, from its intersection with Narcoossee Road to the Circle K, $1 million; Canoe Creek Road, from south of Joe Overstreet Road to the Florida’s Turnpike, $1.8 million; and Pleasant Hill Road, from U.S. Highway 17/92 to the Reedy Creek bridge, $2.9 million.