INVERNESS, Fla. — A new entrance to Whispering Pines Park has officially broken ground on the outskirts of the park.
It’s located off U.S. Highway 41, an area that just saw renovations to its road. An Inverness official said the new entrance to the park is expected to impact traffic and local business.
What You Need To Know
- A new, second entrance to Whispering Pines Park has broken ground
- An Inverness official says the new entrance to the park is expected to impact traffic and local business, with the aims of improving both
- Across the street, staff at Copper State Tackle, which also recently celebrated its grand opening, say the added traffic may help improve their business
- Construction of the new entrance cost $1 million and is expected to be finished in a year
“We’re excited to see this safer, much more modern entrance that will allow us to have more flexibility at the park for bringing people in and out in a more organized and safe manner,” Inverness City Manager Eric Williams said.
“We want more people to come to Whispering Pines, see it and use it, and enjoy what is a gem in our community,” Williams said.
This entrance off US-41 is now the second entrance into Whispering Pines. The park is owned by the State of Florida and subleased by the city of Inverness. Recently, there’s been talk of an RV campground coming to the park.
“It’s not something that’s galvanized or is guaranteed to happen, but it’s a conversation that’s out there,” Williams said. “We’ve expressed that conversation to the state and talking with them about cooperative funding, but there’s still some — I know we’re on a road today — but there’s still some miles to travel with that.”
Across the street, Robbie Anderson stocks the shelves of Copper State Tackle, which recently celebrated its grand opening.
Construction of the new Whispering Pines entrance cost $1 million. It’s expected to be finished in a year.
“We just had our grand opening Saturday, turned out fantastic,” Anderson said. “So the timing’s really kind of neat.”
Anderson said staff at the tackle shop already have noticed traffic patterns.
“When they come from Whispering Pines, they’re looking right at us,” he said. “So that’s a fantastic part of it. Negatives could be the traffic, but I don’t think that’s a negative when you’re driving a business.”
With an entrance into Whispering Pines just across the street, more eyes may focus on the shop.
“The community is growing,” Anderson said. “We do have new interstates and toll roads coming in that’s dropping traffic into our community. It’s a benefit. It has some benefits, and there’s some negatives to it, of course. We’re used to no traffic, but the God-honest truth is if you have a business, you need the traffic to drive the business.”
Calvin Lewis
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