Volusia Council Approves Money For Road Projects

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DeLand, FL - The Daytona Beach construction project rumored to be a new facility for e-commerce giant Amazon gets a little help from the Volusia County Council.

The company behind that project near the Trader Joe's distribution center off Interstate 95 plans to shell out over $150,000 for transportation improvements after the agenda item passed unanimously and without discussion during today's (April 2nd) meeting.

The money would be held in escrow until Volusia County staff decides when to spend it, but it has to be spent in that area, according to the agenda paperwork.

Most of it would go towards adding additional lanes to stretches of Williamson and LPGA Boulevards and a new six-lane bridge over the Tomoka River.

Everyone on the VCC also gave their blessing today to over $1 million dollars in additional money from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the contractor building the delayed Veterans Memorial Bridge project in Daytona Beach.

You can see the separate agenda items here and here.

County officials hope to have the bridge connecting Orange Avenue to Silver Beach Avenue ready for cars by the end of 2019, nearly a year after it was supposed to be finished.

Several reasons have been cited for the delay since construction began in the summer of 2016, including hurricanes Matthew and Irma and planned time off for major holidays and special events like Bike Week and Speedweeks.

Johnson Brothers - the Edgewood company in charge of the project - has also had a few mishaps during the process, including a broken piling and a crane which fell into the Halifax River.

The new bridge - which is totally funded with federal dollars - replaces an old county-run drawbridge which had several breakdowns over recent years before it was torn down, occasionally blocking vehicle traffic when it was in the up position or blocking marine traffic in the down position.