Ocala city staff is in preliminary stages to determine whether or not plans to improve the State Road 464 corridor are feasible.
“One of the projects that we’ve looked at is trying to do something along the 464 corridor,” said Growth Management Director Tye Chighizola.
Chighizola indicated that the first barrier to improving the corridor was the size of the medians. Because the medians are small, the city cannot plant large trees.
“We’re working with the [Department of Transportation] to see what we can put in there. We’re trying to make it a little bit more attractive as a gateway into the city. At this point, we’re in the early stages of design,” explained Chighizola.
Chighizola referred to a project on State Road 40 in Ormond Beach and suggested that Ocala staff would try to get a similar approval for ornamental trees that might work.
The stretch of the SR 464 corridor in question begins just north of its intersection with SE 36th Avenue.
“The first step needs to be analyzing where you can do anything at all. It’s a great objective,” said Ocala Tree Commission Chairman Mike Pape.
“The city manager says keep pushing, so we’re going to keep pushing. He likes the way the project came out on State Road 40,” added Chighizola.