LOCKWOOD, Fla. — A resident in eastern Orange County said congestion on State Road 50 in the Lockwood area is causing drivers to use Old Cheney Highway as a cut-through to East River High School.
What You Need To Know
Pamela Sible says congestion on State Road 50 in the Lockwood area is causing drivers to use Old Cheney Highway as a cut-through to East River High School
The Florida Department of Transportation has delayed a project to widen SR-50 in East Orange County for years due to funding issues
Sible said she believes the widening of SR-50 would encourage drivers to stay off Old Cheney Highway
FDOT officials say the project is being split up, with work expected to start in 2027 and 2028
Pamela Sible said that her and her husband’s rural way of life is changing as growth in eastern Orange County continues to bring traffic down her stretch of Old Cheney Highway.
She said they have lived in the Lockwood area for more than two decades.
“Every day on school days, it’s backed up, rerouting buses even cut through here,” Sible said.
She said the worst traffic is in the mornings and afternoons, as parents drop off or pick up their students at East River High School.
She said backups on nearby State Road 50 are pushing traffic down her street.
“What happens is this gets very, very congested, and they think, ‘Oh, I’ll take a cut-through,'” Sible said. “So they come down South Tanner (Road) to Old Cheney (Highway), and they try to get out on East River Falcons Way to the high school. They’re stuck. They can’t get out.”
Sible said drivers use Old Cheney Highway because SR-50 is busy.
With the number of vehicles traveling that stretch of SR-50, experts say it can be dangerous.
MetroPlan Orlando found 232 crashes on SR-50 between Tanner Road and Chuluota Road between 2020 and Aug. 31, 2025.
The report found that six people died in the crashes and 10 were seriously injured.
Widening the eastern section of SR-50 has been a priority for MetroPlan for more than 20 years.
But year after year, the project has been pushed back.
“It’s very frustrating to many of us,” Sible said. “The way they keep changing it and allocating, and then they say they don’t have the state funds for it.”
The Florida Department of Transportation eventually decided to split the project to fund it.
The $28 million project to widen SR-50 from near Parry Lane to near Chuluota Road is now expected to begin in 2027.
In 2028, construction will start on the nearly $49 million project to add lanes on SR-50 from near Parry Lane to Avalon Park Boulevard.
“Unfortunately, over time, those sections for improvements and the timeline keep changing,” said Sible.
She said she also wants to see the backups on East River Falcons Way to be addressed to keep school traffic off Old Cheney Highway.
School district officials say plans are in the works to remove the guard shack in front of East River High School, which should open up another lane for school traffic on East River Falcons Way.
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