Orange County

How Orlando is working to ‘complete’ streets to improve road safety

ORLANDO, Fla. — With the number of deadly crashes on the rise, the Federal Highway Administration is encouraging cities, counties and states to adopt more “complete street” designs.

“Complete streets” give complete accessibility and mobility to all users busing, biking, walking or driving. A good example in the Orlando area is Edgewater Drive in College Park.

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Next on the list could be Virginia Drive.

Orange County recently transferred ownership of Virginia Drive from Ferris Avenue to North Forest Avenue to the city of Orlando, and improvements are officially underway.

READ: Billions in road, rail and bus improvements promised if penny sales tax passes

Resurfacing is step one, then the city of Orlando’s public works department, transportation division, and the Florida Department of Transportation will study, design, and then down the line construct the Virginia Drive corridor for a complete streets project.

“Anybody that drives Virginia ought to be very happy about this,” said Rick Howard with Orlando’s public works department.

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MetroPlan Orlando’s 2045 master plan allocates 32% of funds to complete streets projects. And those projects are also part of the long list of to-do’s Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings wants to tackle with his transportation tax initiative.

Data shows complete streets have worked to reduce crashes on some Florida roads by more than 25%.

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Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.