INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Wabasso Tackle Shop owner Steve Parsons, along with other business owners along a four-mile stretch of U.S. 1, is getting nervous about a pair of road projects they fear might threaten their livelihoods.
The Wabasso Tackle Shop is an iconic landmark of sorts, a faded yellowish, tin-roof structure, its front screen door swinging to with a solid slam. It’s been on that spot pretty much as long as most people can remember, smack in the middle of a tiny corner at the intersection of U.S. 1 and County Road 510.
Long a favorite with locals, it has a reputation for being the place for live bait, a big assortment of tackle, snacks, tide charts, reel repair, a lot of local knowledge and good conversation.
Back in 1978, Parsons was spending a good deal of time surfing, fishing and thinking how he might like to run a bait and tackle shop. On a drive down from Melbourne Beach, he and his mom happened upon the shop, which had an almost hidden “For Sale” sign in front, obscured by the tall grass.
“The sign was this tall,” he gestures, “and the grass was THIS tall” (he gestures higher). “There was only a stop sign at the intersection. No traffic light. The place had been for sale for a long time, but lucky for me, no one knew because the grass hid the sign.”
For the past three-plus decades Parsons has run his business and built a devoted clientele.
In March, Parsons and his fellow business owners along US 1 attended a “kick-off meeting” with the Florida Department of Transportation to introduce the road project, but left with questions and concerns remaining.
“It’s not just adding two lanes,” Parsons says. “There’ll be a bike path and walking path, and the shoulders. And the reality (of the 510 upgrade), it still leads to a two-lane bridge.“
From the front porch of the shop, Parsons has a ringside seat, around 7 each morning, to the long line of traffic heading east on 510, “often backed up to 58th Avenue. It’ll take two, three light changes to make that turn north.”
Parsons is concerned that eventually at least some of the businesses will be gone, nudged into oblivion, victims of the right-of-way acquisitions. “Moody Tire, Dr. Moon …,” he shakes his head. And if his shop survives the widening, he fears there will be no way for customers to get to it.
Anson Sonnett is the FDOT engineer in charge of the US 1 project, which runs along a 4.7-mile corridor from north of 510 to south of 53rd Street, a widening of the highway from four to six lanes. The project is in the early stages, during which FDOT is conducting a Project Development and Environment Study, evaluating many aspects, including roadway capacity improvements, bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, and transit needs.
“And we are developing alternatives,” Sonnett said,various alternate ways to accomplish the project with the least possible negative impact to all concerned. As per state requirement, one of those is a “no build” alternative.
The state project has a long way to go before any dirt is moved. A public workshop is scheduled for October to “refine and document” alternatives. In March 2015, when the studies to determine the impact on the public, the environment and stake-holders (the owners of property on the project right-of-way) are concluded, there will be a public hearing to select a build or no-build alternative.
After that, if the project is still a go, “we go to design, then we have to get Department of Environmental Protection approval” to seek location and design concept acceptance and funding from the Federal Highway Administration. That should occur around December 2015.
The design, engineering, right-of-way acquisition, treatment ponds for stormwater runoff, request-for-proposals and contract processes will take a couple of years after that.
“It’ll be at least 2018 before anything hits the ground,” Sonnett said. He strongly urges everyone with any interest or stake in the project to visit the DOT’s project web page, which contain a lot of information. Go to www.us1study.com
Indian River County Engineer Christopher Kafer says the CR 510 project will extend from 55th Avenue east to the first bridge and 800 feet to the north and south on US 1.
On the west side of US 1, the roadway will be raised four feet from the current elevation, while on the east side, where the Tackle Shop sits, it will be much less. Kafer said the project would not eliminate access to the shop and noted that the county would likely need to acquire only “some” of Parson’s property.
As to the concern about traffic funneling from a newly widened road onto the still two-lane bridge, he said the transition should not be a problem.
Meanwhile, Parsons will keep selling all things fish and watching the morning traffic jams on 510.
