A public meeting was held on April 28 to discuss a pedestrian crosswalk on Mills Avenue, just north of Canton Street in the Mills 50 District. Residents and business owners, including Will Walker of Will’s Pub and Lil Indie’s, were on hand to give feedback.
“It’s long overdue,” Walker said. “I’ve made that walk to Wally’s back and forth for years, and it can be a little stressful.”
A rendering of the new crosswalk shows the revised curbs, pedestrian refuge and signage/light placement. (COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ORLANDO)
The plan calls for several improvements to enable safer pedestrian crossings. At the Mills and Canton intersection, the curbs will be extended to provide more space for people to wait. Parallel parking spaces near the intersection will also be eliminated to improve visibility.
Zebra-striped crosswalks will mark the paths across Mills and Canton, and a pedestrian refuge will be installed to help calm traffic and allow people to cross in two stages. Like new pedestrian crossings on Orange Avenue in Ivanhoe Village and Corrine Drive in Audubon Park, the Mills crossing will include rectangular rapid flashing beacons that pedestrians can activate to stop traffic.
The crosswalk public meeting, held on April 28, was well attended. City officials were on hand to present the plan and get feedback on the project. (NICK GEORGOUDIOU)
According to the City of Orlando’s timeline, final designs for the project are expected in July and construction will begin in fall.