Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[JRS1 0]

My understanding is that there had been some talk of the Expressway Authority building a spur of 417 from around the airport area, that would proceed around -- as in, to the east of -- East Lake Toho, connecting into 192 around St. Cloud.

I hadn't heard of any additional discussion regarding it lately, though.

I did some research last night on this and googled a link to minutes from a Kissimmee City Council meeting or so from 6 months ago. The intent is to have it parallel SR15 (I think that's Narcoossee) and hit 192. They want to get people from Poinciana off of John Young Parkway to alleviate congestion in Kiss. B/C this is a benefit to Kiss., they requested the Expressway Auth. to do this study. I think they intend to possibly make a loop to the west to Poinciana--if not, they would have to widen Neptune to handle all the new traffic heading to the new road.

TV13 ran this story yesterday around 1 pm.

They also ran a story last week about a Lake Co. toll road from SR 50 to US 27 (Clermont to 4 Corners).

[gibby 312]

Having Belle Isle and/or Pine Castle kill the Central Connector will always confound me. Looks like some express lanes on 436 are supposed to be the remedy.

[JRS1 0]

Having Belle Isle and/or Pine Castle kill the Central Connector will always confound me. Looks like some express lanes on 436 are supposed to be the remedy.

that, and the fact that they are 8-laning the turnpike from I-4 to 528 and widening it overall throughout Orange County. DOT's website (no link, sorry) states that they are adding 2 lanes in each direction and doing overpass and ramp improvements throughout that segment.

[speck76 0]

I think prior to building new toll-roads, or mass transit, the transportation engineers need to make the current system work....

1. Fill in the gaps that currently cause congestion (like the Alafaya dead-end), which would remove many of the bottle necks on the more heavily used roads.

2. Get great cooperation from the various counties for road planning.....

A number of year ago, Osceola County widened JYP to 6 lanes, but narrowed the road to 4 lanes as it approached Osceola Parkway....as JYP in Orange County was only 4 lanes (just north of Osceola Parkway). A few years later, Orange County widened JYP to 6 lanes from Hunter's Creek north to the Beeline.

Now....what we have is a 6 lane road, that narrows to 4 right before the county line, and then a mile further down the road, widens back to 6.

The problem is that since the expansions (and lack of expansion) development on the corner of Osceola Parkway and JYP has occured, and now the area is always a mess with traffic.

So the plan now is the widen the missing link section, which, now that the development has occured, will make the expansion much more difficult.

3. Better time the traffic lights, or invest in a real-time traffic monitoring system.

One of the things that really ticks me off is having to stop every 100 feet at a traffic light. The constant acceleration and breaking uses much more fuel, and the frusteration of stopping constantly leads to more issues of road rage and red-light running. If the lights were managed better, traffic would move better.

I just feel before we spend money on something that might bust (like light rail) and cost a ton more in the future, we should optimize that which we already have.

[JRS1 0]

I agree with alot of your points, especially yhe narrowing of existing roads causing bottlenecks: other examples--

436/SR 50 southbound lanes of 436

436/Curry Ford-- this has been fixed now;

17/92 & Lee Road-- southbound-- it can't be fixed, but the light at Borders/Ruth's CHris backs traffic in the turn lane back to the Lee Road intersection-- not good.

there's many more...

[i_cre8 0]

FYI -

OOCEA just released an illustration of their potential plans between now and 2030.

Edited March 6, 2006 by i_cre8

[JRS1 0]

the No.12 NE extension to Deltona--definitely needed w/o a doubt.

408-- if anything, extend it east to SR 520.

408- the No.9 extension from 429-- yes also, but they need to give 408 a direct link to 429 as well, and not have to rely on the TNPK.

No. 10-- 417 around East Lake Toho. Osceola just needs to widen the TNPK and Orange needs an interchange with 417.

Redo of OIA interchange and 417-- yes.

[speck76 0]

Redo of OIA interchange and 417-- yes.

yeah....I drive that crappy interchange daily.....if only they would multi-lane the road into the airport too....

[speck76 0]

Overhaul to begin where I-4, 408 meet

The road work in Orlando won't slow drivers more than usual, officials say.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom...-home-headlines

2009

2016

It looks kind of ugly....

It would be nice to build some type of a downtown bypass road....so traffic coming from outside of downtown onto the 408 via 4 could get there without passing through downtown

[bic 87]

I've been staring at both renderings for a while and I can't find a difference between the two. Anybody else in the same boat?

[Hisma 0]

I agree it's fugly. Looks like a ball of spaghetti with no symmetry or sense of organization. And at 9 stories, it's gonna ruin views of downtown coming in eastbound.

Ah well, it's function over form.

[otowner 0]

I've been staring at both renderings for a while and I can't find a difference between the two. Anybody else in the same boat?

I agree with you, they both appear identical. I thought we had a modified version posted earlier in this thread somewhere.

Also, after reading the article and seeing the proposed connections, it does not appear that those two renderings represent the project accurately. I believe that modified rendering is a better representation.

Lots of concrete crossover bridges are ugly, but lucky for us that newer bridges over I4 in Orange County are getting that green/cream color coating to them. I believe the Turnpike/429 interchange in West Orange County is a good model to go by, except this new interchange will have downtown as the backdrop versus the rolling green hills of the 429 interchange that look reminiscent of a Windows XP Screen Saver.

[Chemmie 0]

The three-year venture will not add any lanes to the interstate or to the expressway.

This is from the article about the construction.

BRILLIANT. Why not build it correctly the first time? Instead, we are still going to have single lanes merging from I-4 to 408 and the reverse. Are we unable to take lessons from every other city in the country that has realized they have to widen their large highway intersections?

My commute from the city to Sand Lake Rd. is going to be wonderful for the next few years, and after that it won't be any better.

Geniuses.

[JRS1 0]

now lets think about that point for a minute...

they can't build those new bridge ramp without widening I-4 some for the sake of egress-- that article is wrong. they would have to widen the downtown portion an extra lane in each direction at least to make it work for the final buildout, otherwise the placement of the bridges will be obsolete once complete in 3 years.

Oh yeah, I forgot, this is Orlando we're talking about.

[wally2169 0]

This new interchange is not ugly

Honestly, anything is better than what's there now

I'm hoping the master I-4 plan, the rest of the construction that will take us into 2016 and beyond will alleviate the bottlenecks

If anything, it sucks now

[Go Gators 0]

Does anyone think there may an eventual need for an extension from either I-4 or the 417 into Polk County at US 27 b/c of all the commuters from Polk that are employed in the Orlando metro area? I know it is absolute hell driving 27 south of

I-4.

Edited March 20, 2006 by Go Gators

[JRS1 0]

didn't oocea have a spur to US 27 from 429 in Lake Co. as a potential future road? its a little out of the way, though.

new interchange-- oh yeah, I'll take that any day of the week over that backwards double trumpet backwater exit we have now; that exit is such an embarassment for the entire State of Florida anytime a tourist or business visitor uses it-- its the same for I-4/TNPK and 528/TNPK/441 as well.

now it will be a thing of the past. (well, in 2008 it will be). And the high bridges: mixed feelings. they are big-city-ish for sure. Orlando will be so much better off.

408 is being widened to 6 lanes all the way to the TNPK. and 8 lanes to 417. coupled with this project, this will make Orlando look big-time. wait and see. the Orlando we've been used to the last few years will look drastically different from the highway.

BTW, I agree. those 2 photos are identical.

[JRS1 0]

www.trans4mation.org has the 2008 photo. Sentinel got it wrong. these are the headliners:

New Andersen St. bridge w/on ramps for I-4E and off ramp from I-4W;

new 408W to I-4E ramp;

new 408E to I-4E ramp;

new Garland St. exit;

[shardoon 128]

anyone have news as to what day/time this week the ouc parking garage in downtown is gonna be imploded for the off ramp?

[speck76 0]

new interchange-- oh yeah, I'll take that any day of the week over that backwards double trumpet backwater exit we have now; that exit is such an embarassment for the entire State of Florida anytime a tourist or business visitor uses it-- its the same for I-4/TNPK and 528/TNPK/441 as well.

If they would fix the I-4/Turnpike ramp too....that would certainly help.....it is nearly as bad.

[JRS1 0]

If they would fix the I-4/Turnpike ramp too....that would certainly help.....it is nearly as bad.

Oh yeah, you just reminded me...

not this past weekend, but the Sunday before, I was on I-4 west at Conroy trying to get on the TNPK to get to Fla. Mall. I-4 and the TNPK ramp was jam packed right up to the Conroy exit. there was a line of cars in the far right lane trying to get on the TNPK. unbelieveable. I ended up taking Kirkman to Sand Lake instead.

THe TNPK Authority has plans for this interchange during this widening of TNPK thru Orange CO., but I dnk exactly what it is.

[EngineerNole 2]

now lets think about that point for a minute...

they can't build those new bridge ramp without widening I-4 some for the sake of egress-- that article is wrong. they would have to widen the downtown portion an extra lane in each direction at least to make it work for the final buildout, otherwise the placement of the bridges will be obsolete once complete in 3 years.

Oh yeah, I forgot, this is Orlando we're talking about.

I-4 is 100% guaranteed to be widened. It's the ramps themselves that are in question.

[JRS1 0]

I-4 is 100% guaranteed to be widened. It's the ramps themselves that are in question.

I know. With regard to widening the interchange, I was saying that they have to widen I-4 some where the ramps hit I-4-- at least the 408W to I-4E ramp, that is, b/c if they don't, the bridge placement will be too close to existing lanes when future lanes that are built are further out from the center of the hwy than the ramps are.

[speck76 0]

If they would fix the I-4/Turnpike ramp too....that would certainly help.....it is nearly as bad.

I used to live off of Conroy and would get on from that exit daily (to I-4 WB), it was alwasy a nightmare......

The biggest problem is that traffic on that exit headed north must squeeze through a tollbooth that is only 2 lanes (1 lane for cash, another for exact change)......perhaps if the moved the booth, or added a few Epass lanes, this problem would go away.....(instead, it will take hundreds of millions of dollars for a new exit ramp configuration)

[depechecureguyorl 1]

It would be nice to build some type of a downtown bypass road....so traffic coming from outside of downtown onto the 408 via 4 could get there without passing through downtown

I couldn't agree with you more! There is discussion back in this same thread that brings up this topic and then how the Sentinel mentioned that federal funding was overlooked by the local leaders back in the 80's. My question: Is a Free alternative to I-4 EVER forseeable or even possible in the future? Would there be any way to convert some of our major roads into freeways? For example, could US441 be converted into a freeway from, say, Mt. Dora down to Kissimmee? I know it seems far fetched, not to mention the displacement of a ton of businesses, but should it or could it be done?