District 6 of the Florida Department of Transportation selected Prosser | PRIME AE to perform a wide range of services on this highly sensitive project on SR 5/Overseas Highway in Big Pine Key. A large portion of the project is either within or adjacent to the National Key Deer Refuge. Therefore, a major influence on the project design was to avoid attracting key deer into the right of way, as well as to not creating visual barriers to obstruct visibility of the deer by vehicles.
The project required extensive coordination with the National Key Deer Refuge staff, environmental consultants and local County staff. Prosser was responsible for leading a public information meeting on Big Pine Key to gather comments and discuss the project with local citizens and stakeholders. A critical issue that was identified in the public meeting was that the citizens desired only local native vegetation used on the project. This required extensive research of plant species, which include the use of a local environmentalist and arborist sub-consultants.
Prosser | PRIME AE also provided post-design services, performing site visits at critical project milestones. The project was in construction with a significant portion installed when Hurricane Irma struck the Keys in 2017. The selected native plant palette withstood the wind, rain and flooding with minimal impacts.
Size: 4.3 Miles
