ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County leaders are trying to make things safer for drivers and pedestrians at a busy intersection in the heart of the tourist corridor.
The county is looking at adding a pedestrian overpass to improve safety at the intersection of Sand Lake Road and International Drive.
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Pedestrians agree this intersection needs improvement.
“Crossing that road was scary. Very,” said AImee Ali, who is visiting Orlando.
In the last five years, MetroPlan Orlando data shows the intersection has seen 295 crashes, four involving pedestrians.
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For years, the county has been studying how to improve safety at the busy crossing and the $30 million bridge concept is now the leading contender.
“What we’re going to do is create this bridge, it will touch down on all four corners of the intersection,” said Blanche Hardy, the project manager for the transportation planning division.
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The county says it will be ADA-accessible and will have barriers to prevent crossing at the street level.
The concept is still in the study phase but the county believes it will minimize pedestrians and bikes getting interlaced with traffic, and will ultimately bring down crash numbers.
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A community meeting will be held on Aug. 2 to discuss the concept. It will then take a year or two before the project can head to commissioners for their stamp of approval.
You can see renderings of the proposed bridge here.
See: Orange County looking into $30M pedestrian bridge to make tourist corridor intersection safer
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