VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A busy intersection in a growing West Volusia County community is getting some improvements to help reduce crashes.

The Florida Department of Transportation plans to reconfigure the US-17/92 and Enterprise Road intersection in Orange City.

Damon McKinney’s Divine Canine Pet Spa is located in a shopping plaza at that intersection.

“In the afternoons, (Enterprise) Road will be backed up before Target,” he said. “Just like gridlock, people trying to get to US-17/92.”

Those backups have led to problems at this intersection.

“(I’ve) seen several crashes,” McKinney said.

It has become such an issue that FDOT conducted a 2020 intersection safety study that found between 2013 and 2019, 59 crashes occurred at the intersection. One person was killed, and two crashes involved pedestrians.

“A lot of people trying to go right on US-17/92 and they’ll wait until they get up and everybody tries to merge over, and that’s what creates the problems there,” McKinney said.

McKinney is talking about the free-flow right turn lane from westbound Enterprise Road to northbound US-17/92. Based on the crashes there, FDOT officials said they plan to eliminate that turning lane, instead requiring drivers to stop at the light to turn from one of the proposed two new right turn lanes.

“There won’t be an area for everyone to merge at the last minute,” said McKinney, who said he thinks the plan will help.

Design on the project is underway, and construction on the more than $2 million project is scheduled to begin in early 2025.

The intersection improvements also include upgrading a crosswalk and building a new crosswalk, along with enhancing lighting and making drainage modifications.