Council gets half-cent infrastructure update | St. Lucie County

PORT ST. LUCIE – Since St. Lucie County voters approved a half-cent infrastructure sales tax via referendum in 2018, the city has received $74,091,634 and spent $63.7 million of that on repaving more than 80 miles of roadways and constructing 12 miles of new sidewalks, among various other improvements.

A sizable chunk of that, some $12.9 million to-date, has helped fund the estimated $100 million Floresta Drive project, a massive three-phase undertaking including constructing a new bridge over the Elkcam Waterway and adding roundabouts, sidewalks and bike paths. The first and second phases from South Bend Boulevard to the Crosstown Parkway have been completed, with the third phase from Crosstown to Prima Vista Boulevard now under construction. Project Manager Everett Tourjee provided the City Council an update Oct. 27 on both completed projects and those planned for the next round of the surtax, which must be renewed by voters every 10 years.

“As we know the sales tax referendum was approved by voters in 2018 and projects began to come online shortly thereafter,” he said as he pointed to images of the Floresta Drive project on the overhead screen. “The Floresta Drive Improvements Project [is] a four-mile project that provides a two-lane roadway with landscaping, lighting, sidewalks and bicycle lanes. The four photos on the right are the completed Phase 1. You’ll see the roundabout at Polynesian, the parking lot at Thornhill Pond and [and] the Phase 2 oval-about, which includes that beautiful dolphin art.”

In addition to the aforementioned sidewalk construction and street repaving, the city has completed landscaping and irrigation improvements along U.S. 1 from the Martin County line to 150 feet north of Huffman Road. That project was partially funded by the city’s mobility fees as well.

“We did complete several improvements to St. Lucie West Boulevard intersections, including Cashmere, Bayshore and Peacock boulevards,” he added. “We completed intersections at the southern leg of Torino, [which] included roundabouts at Cashmere and California. We are planning the widening of California Boulevard from two to four lanes from Crosstown Parkway to St. Lucie West Boulevard. This project’s also going to include improvements to the intersection of California and St. Lucie West [boulevards].”

Tourjee and other staff members are now planning for the second 10-year phase of funding, which will go back before voters in 2028. They’ve already conducted a citizen’s survey to get input on proposed projects and ideas on the greatest needs. The are presently conducting the second half of a feasibility study for widening St. Lucie West Boulevard.

“Over 60 percent of respondents provided affirmative responses for most of these projects,” he explained. “The highlights include the St. Lucie West Boulevard widening from Cashmere to Peacock [Boulevard] to harmonize with the current Peacock improvements. The preliminary study outlined the need, [and] the final portion of the study provides conceptual typical sections so that we can continue with our data-driven approach to create the best possible widening in the future.”

The project manager wrapped up his presentation on Southbend Boulevard and East Torino Parkway.

“The Southbend Corridor improvements between Becker Road and Oak Ridge Drive were identified in the 2045 Mobility Plan,” he concluded. “We are currently completing a feasibility study that will include conceptual design and traffic analysis. We have an upcoming public meeting at Jessica Clinton Park on Oct. 30 so we can get as much feedback as possible from people who use Southbend. Lastly, we have East Torino Parkway improvements from Midway Road south to the roundabout at Peacock and Cashmere. We currently have a feasibility study ongoing for this [and] are planning a public involvement meeting in November.”

Councilman David Pickett was the first Board member to pose a clarification question afterward.

“How did we determine the eastern part of Torino needed widening more than the western part?” he asked.

“The eastern part of Torino was identified on the 2045 Mobility Plan and has been identified with the current ongoing update to that,” Tourjee replied. “The western portion did need some improvements with the roundabout at California.”

For her part, Mayor Shannon Martin wondered why St. Lucie West Boulevard was even on the list.

“In the past we talked about putting it in for the Transportation Planning Organization because of the amount of funding,” she said. “I wasn’t aware of the switch. I assumed we were going to have a workshop on all these projects for when we go back out for reauthorization of the half-cent sales tax.”

Public Works Department Director Cole Schwertd tackled that inquiry.

“It is on the TPO list as our prioritized top 10,” he said. “It’s identified here as sales tax funding too because we know the massive amount it’s going to cost. We’re trying to leverage all different pots of funding so that we can to make this project a reality.”

City Manager Jesus Merejo also chimed in on that particular project.

“We’re looking at how can we expedite these projects because we know they take a long time,” he said. “St. Lucie West Boulevard is one of our biggest needs, so we’re trying to figure out how can we get there sooner rather than later.”

Mayor Martin also expressed concerns about Savona Boulevard, which she described as having worsening traffic between Becker Road and Gatlin Boulevard.

“I know that we talked about that at a previous workshop,” she said.

While Schwertd acknowledged that it was not on the surtax list but rather on the TPO priority list, Merejo agreed with the mayor that traffic on roads like Savona can change from year to year.

“We really need to be able to adapt to what the needs are at the time,” he explained. “Cashmere is constantly changing as far as the need, so really, it’s almost year-by-year that we really need to let the data determine what we do. I think we need to evaluate where we are [and] hit those tough roads like Savona, which to me has changed dramatically in the past two years.”

“Absolutely,” Mayor Martin concurred. “When we talk about pivoting, we do need to look at the current counts, the traffic patterns and what’s actually happening at the time.”

The City Council then gave its verbal consent for staff to move up a February 2026 workshop on the project list to Nov. 17 at Merejo’s request.