OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Marion County Engineer Steven Cohoon provided a snapshot of road projects that are currently going on or are about to start at the Marion County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
One of those projects is the SW 40th and SW 49th Ave., Phase One project, where there is a considerable amount of work being done. The SW 66th St. intersection improvement Phase One detour is enacted, and the county is also improving on that detour, said Cohoon, as there was some citizen concern.
The Phase Two detour is expected to have portable changeable message boards on SR 200, and with some of the confusion that the county’s engineering department has heard from the community they have made the decision to move forward with this item during the Phase One portion of the project, said Cohoon.
“Our teams are out there putting out some of those message boards today on 200, coordinating with DOT as well as the contractor, to try to get some additional information out to the community,” said Cohoon.
The county engineer’s office is meeting with numerous entities throughout the county, making presentations. Just the day before, on Feb. 16, the deputy county engineer made a presentation to a group, said Cohoon.
Marking the changes
Marion County Commission Chair Carl Zalak, III, stated that signage is needed on SW 80th Ave., so that when people arrive at 80th, they’ll have an indication of what direction they should go as far as the detour concerning the bridge, to save commuters time. Cohoon is bringing that idea back to the county engineering team for the Phase One projects to see what can be done in coordination with the Florida Department of Transportation.
The City of Ocala did approve the left-turn lane extension at SW 43rd St. and SW 40th Ave., with the design being underway for the dual-left lanes at U.S. 27, as well as the extension for the westbound turn lane, said Cohoon.
The SW 80th Ave. Segment One project is closer to moving forward, and with the approval of various agreements on Feb. 17, the county will be able to move forward with the construction activities. The Office of the County Engineer is reviewing the Critical Path Method schedule, as there’s a lot of back-and-forth with the contractor identifying what is the critical path, and then if that’s agreed to, the project will move forward with the pre-con and then ultimately the construction.
The Office of the County Engineer has been meeting with numerous entities, with the intention of getting the word out as construction activities increase.
“Just last week, we met with the school board and the new principal at the South Marion High School and have some more school presentations that we’ll be giving the later part of this month,” said Cohoon.
Progress in motion
The SW 80th and SW 70th Avenues Segment Three, is going to be the next major project forthcoming from the office, said Cohoon.
“We’re finishing up some of our last few negotiations,” said Cohoon. “The good news for us, WEC is the largest property owner as it relates to outstanding properties. They have agreed verbally to let us have the right of entry agreement. What that does, is open up that project for us as we’re negotiating and settling the last few remaining parcels, and that will open up the entire north half of this project potentially. They also have a lot of holdings on the east side as well. That gives us the comfort level to move forward.”
The Critical Path Method that was referred to earlier in the discussion, allows the Office of the County Engineer to work with the contractors saying, “you can work in these areas, you can’t work in these areas,” said Cohoon.
“Concurrent activities start to open up, and we can start to see some progress out here on this particular project,” said Cohoon.
The Office of the County Engineer doesn’t have a written agreement at present, but the parties have agreed to it verbally, said Cohoon.
“I’m working with their attorney as well as our legal team, getting all of that squared away to execute,” said Cohoon. “That gives us the comfort level to move forward with an advertisement as well as some additional parcels that are going to stipulate an order of taking hearing in April. Once we see how all of this plays out, which I don’t have any hesitation, this allows us to advertise this project to start construction.”
The Office of the County Engineer is expecting to have a notice to proceed provided to the contractor by June or July 2026, said Cohoon. The 49th St. project will follow that.
Regarding the SW 80th Ave., SW 70th Ave. Segment Three project, Cohoon believes the county will have enough funds to move that project forward without a bond consideration.
Plans for the SW 49th St., SW 40th Ave and the Marion Oaks Flyover are also on the table, discussion will start regarding bonding for those projects, he said.
Beavers and buildingÂ
Commissioner Craig Curry, Dist. 1, asked, regarding the four-laning, for the entire 11 miles, crossing U.S. HWY 27, going up to the new interchange including Buc-ee’s, if all of the construction will be completed by 2028.
They will be extremely close to completing the project with the exception of Segment Two, with 2029 possibly being more of a more realistic forecast; however, the project may be finished sometime in 2028.
If one goes south of SR 40 and you tie into phase one of where the 80th Ave. project is, that is what is referred to as Segment Two, and that’s a little over a 1.5-mile remnant, and that will still be in design and being prepared for construction. The Office of the County Engineer does coordinate closely with the Florida Department of Transportation. Ground will be broken in the next week or two at that interchange. The interchange work is going to be one of the early components of that project, said Cohoon. The Florida Department of Transportation has that interchange funded.
The 49th St. extension is the bond discussion that has to happen to make everything fall into place, said Cohoon.