ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation is extending Hicks Avenue to reconnect Parramore with Griffin Park. 

What You Need To Know

  • FDOT is extending Hicks Avenue from Parramore to Griffin Park

  • When it was constructed, the I-4/State Road 408 interchange cut off Griffin Park

  • New I-4 Ultimate flyover ramps are giving FDOT the opportunity to reconnect the neighborhoods

  • Officials say construction is expected to wrap up in spring 2024

Griffin Park began as a public housing project on the edge of Parramore in 1941. By the 1970s, the interchange of I-4 and State Road 408 cut off Griffin Park from the rest of Parramore, affecting hundreds of properties.

“When they started doing the change, a lot of people started moving around,” said Nick Aiken, who owns Nikki’s Place on Carter Street.

Aiken started working in the area in 1949 when he was still in elementary school. He said the area used to be thriving and full of people.

“Back in the day, on the corner of Parramore and that area of Griffin Park, you had to walk sideways — so many people,” he said.

FDOT officials say they are now working to reconnect those areas. New I-4 Ultimate flyover ramps replaced the old ramps that once cut off the area from Parramore. Crews are now working to extend Hicks Avenue underneath SR-408 to connect Anderson Street to Gore Street.

“Now with this new path through, it will definitely give (people) an opportunity to come to this area and see what Nikki’s Place is offering, because now we’re not as hidden as before,” said Nikki Aiken, who helps run Nikki’s Place with her father.

The $8.3 million project will also add on-street parking, sidewalks and two roundabouts.

FDOT oOfficials say construction is expected to wrap up in the spring of 2024.