ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation is making changes after listening to concerns over a project for Conway Road in the Dover area of Orlando.

What You Need To Know

  • FDOT proposed adding concreted barriers to center of Conway Road in Dover area

  • Residents complained it would reduce access to side streets

  • FDOT revaluated plans to allow access, but add median traffic separators

  • Project also includes curb extensions, a median refuge to help pedestrians crossing and protected bike lanes

The original plan called for eliminating the two-way left turn lane in the middle of Conway Road, replacing it with raised concrete medians.

“Traffic is going to be difficult moving around this area where before it was so easy, you could get in and out of any street,” said Tania Harmon from Greenview at Dover.

Conway Road is the main in and out thoroughfare for many of the Dover Shores, Dover Estates, Dover Manor and Greenview at Dover residents.

The proposed changes were a part of a repaving project between Lake Underhill Road and just south of Curry Ford Road.

The concrete raised median down the middle of Conway Road was meant to reduce conflict points, per FDOT. But for residents, the raised median would have reduced the number of side streets that could be accessed from Conway Road.

“Our convenience factor was going to be drastically changed. The first design had just one or two input roads,” said Fabien Houle from Dover Shores East.

With just certain spots opened to allow left turns in the center lane, the FDOT plan would have created more traffic for those streets with access and cut off those streets without a center lane to turn.

“They really never took into consideration how we used the street for our neighborhood purposes,” said Houle.

Houle started a neighborhood working group to give feedback to FDOT. It took a third proposal, he says, but the agency finally listened.

“We no longer have the concrete median and we have as much access as possible, while keeping the roadway as safe as possible,” he said.

Under the modified plan, median traffic separators will be added to break up the continuous two way middle turn lane, but FDOT will maintain access to most existing side streets now.

“We got everything we could while keeping the roadway as safe as possible,” said Houle.

Harmon is pleased with some of the changes, but still thinks it will take some getting used to for residents.

“I’m not happy because it is going to cause a lot of traffic, a lot of confusion,” she said.

Construction on the more than $3-million project is expected to begin soon.

The project also includes curb extensions, a median refuge to help pedestrians crossing and protected bike lanes.