Charlotte County to spend $26M on road construction projects

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Charlotte County drivers will experience more roadway construction beginning in 2016.

County leaders passed a $600 million budget, 11 percent higher than last year, with a large portion going towards construction projects. More than $26 million will be spent to fix up roads.

“They only last a certain amount of time because of the heat and the water and the abuse. So they are on a schedule and each year the money is budgeted to do a certain number of miles within those MSBUs,” said Brian Gleason, communication manager for Charlotte County.

Municipal service benefit user fees (MSBU) will be used to fund the repavement. The largest and most expensive area getting repaved is central Port Charlotte, near Midway Boulevard. County leaders say that roadwork will cost more than $7 million.

Some residents say the roads need to be redone, but others don’t agree.

“I don’t think we need any more taxes and you can see the roads are pretty good in Charlotte County,” said resident Don Blenman.

“This is great idea, that they do that, but they have to do all of the roads, not just this one,” said Leon Thelsua.