ORLANDO, Fla. — Residents in one Orlando neighborhood came together to ask for and get improvements to make it safer to cross Bumby Avenue.
When Erin Hearn’s son started going to Audubon Park K-8 School in 2018, Hearn soon realized it wasn’t going to be easy biking across Bumby Avenue.
“I guess that was the scary thing is like when you can tell (drivers are) so unaware of that you’re actually standing outside of a car, you know, right here on the corner, waiting to cross,” she said.
Just north of Colonial Drive, heading toward Corrine Drive and Leu Gardens, the city of Orlando found 11,000 people drive on Bumby Avenue every day.
“(It’s a) steady flow,” said Hearn.
Hearn wanted to do something about it. So in 2019, she and her neighbors and friends gathered signatures and got the city to conduct a traffic study.
Orlando’s Safe Mobility Manager, Laura Hardwicke, said about half of drivers are going the speed limit, 30 miles per hour.
“But it’s those people who are going 10 miles over, 40 miles per hour on this neighborhood street, that’s really the concern for the city,” said Hardwicke. “If a crash were to happen at that speed, it’s incredibly dangerous.”
After hearing the concerns from Hearn and others, and conducting the safety study, the city finally agreed to do something, spending $347,000 to build two raised crosswalks and two speed tables to get drivers to slow down.
“It does feel safer crossing,” said Hearn. “There’s more visibility for people walking and biking with the signage and the raised hump.”
Despite taking several years to get results, Hearn is glad something got done.
“I feel like a lot of people just think, ‘Oh, nothing’s going to happen’. And a lot of times, nothing does happen. But things do happen. It just might take six or seven years to get it happening,” she said.
Hardwicke says others should go to Orlando’s website to submit their pressing road worries.
“Just staying in communication with us, messaging the department and their local city commissioner is a great way to get involved and create change,” said Hardwicke.
Hearn has one more piece of advice.
“Persistence,” she said. “And it’s annoying and frustrating, but keep following up and keep sending the same emails.”
The last part of the Bumby Avenue Safety Improvement project is set to be completed in May.
It’s turning the intersection of Bumby Avenue and Virginia Drive into an all-way stop, another measure meant to slow down drivers.