Jon from Longwood sent in a question about one of the most dreaded areas of I-4 — the "Fairbanks curve" near the Fairbanks Avenue exit:
Will the I-4 Ultimate project affect the Fairbanks curve area? There are always accidents in that area, and the road seems to be uneven. Will it be straightened out?
Crashes are a common sight on the Fairbanks curve. But what makes it so dangerous?
According to the Florida Department of Transportation, it may be a multitude of factors.
"Fairbanks curve, we had a combination there of people going at higher speeds, maybe faster than they are supposed to be going," said FDOT spokesman Steve Olson. "We had some issue, maybe, with the way the curve is set up as far as when it was concrete, and where the concrete additions were, and where the lines for the lanes were."
FDOT gave the Fairbanks curve an asphalt overlay in 2012 that officials say temporarily took care of the problem.
However, recently — especially during bad weather — FDOT says more crashes are happening again, and a new, permanent fix is needed.
"What you're going to see is something that's not so curvy," Olson said. "Something that's not necessarily banked and up and down like you see in that Lee Road/Fairbanks area."
So, the Fairbanks curve area has been addressed as a dangerous spot and will be reconfigured to be straighter as part of the I-4 Ultimate project.
If you have a traffic question, Ryan Harper can answer it. Send him your question.