ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Avalon Park may be beautiful and attracting more and more new residents every day, but some of its residents paint a dangerous picture of its current road infrastructure: wrong-way drivers, pedestrians getting hit, cars crashing into homes.
- Stretch of Avalon Park Blvd in question is at Autumn Cove Lane
- Residents want changes, citing dangerous for drivers, walkers
- Orange County has at least two fixes coming, maybe more on way
- Get more Traffic Inbox coverage here
In this week’s Traffic Inbox, we checked out a small stretch in front of a shopping center on Avalon Park Boulevard at Autumn Cove Lane where some residents say is a haven for confused drivers and potential wrecks.
When we arrived, we met Kay Kissoon who works at Complete Pools in Avalon Park, a recent permanent resident within the last year.
"I love it here!" said Kissoon.
Complete Pools' front door literally hugs the stretch of Avalon Park Boulevard in question. Kissoon said it did not take long to figure out that although the area is beautiful, it can sometimes be dangerous as well.
"Since I've been here, there have been several accidents, especially on this strip," said Kissoon.
Kissoon says she has seen wrong-way drivers, several fender-benders and even witnessed a recent near-hit involving a pedestrian.
"One time I was going into Publix,” recalled Kissoon. "There is a community development of townhouses across the street. A group of kids, one had a skateboard actually, they were attempting to cross the road."
This is not the first issue the community has had.
Ironically, change is already coming just south of Autumn Cove Lane, but not to help our intersection. A curve is actually being straightened out just south of the shopping center there because of too many incidents involving cars losing control and crashing into homes.
Some residents want better signage or possibly even a 4-way stop at Autumn Cove Lane, which has that shopping center on one side and a residential community on another side.
Here is how Orange County Traffic Engineering is approaching the problem.
On October 6 2019, Traffic Engineering received a request from Commissioner Gomez-Cordero's office to study the intersection of Avalon Park East Blvd at Auburn Cove Lane for the installation of a marked crosswalk.
The County's Traffic Engineering Division studied the intersection, taking various factors into considerations including roadway posted speed, cross-section, context class, functional class, sight distance, pedestrian volume and crashes.
After completing the evaluation, two improvements were identified. The first one is a crosswalk, which is currently under the design phase. The design and installation may take up to eight months because the pedestrian improvements will require sidewalk modification and curb ramp installation.
As Avalon Park East Boulevard is a one-way street, the second improvement that was identified was the need for additional signage and pavement markings to help drivers understand the direction of travel while approaching the intersection. Traffic Engineering is completing a work order and these improvements should be installed in about 60 days.
In addition to that, based on their most recent request from Spectrum News 13, Orange County will begin collecting data and will analyze the data for the warranting of a multiway stop. The data collection and analysis will take approximately four months.
If a multiway stop is warranted, they say they will need an additional two months for the approval by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners and for installation of the stop signs.
As for Kissoon, while enjoys the lifestyle here, she admits that at times in can feel a little unsafe as well.
"I particularly will always walk my kids down the street and I wouldn't want kids to be walking down here on their own, especially with traffic that keeps coming down Avalon Park Boulevard," she said.
And if you at home have a traffic issue or question you want looked into, head to mynews13.com/trafficinbox and fill out the simple form.