{"id":265218,"date":"2026-05-09T23:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/265218\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T23:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:43:11","slug":"new-orange-county-study-shows-nearly-1000-crashes-at-stretch-of-hiawassee-road-intersections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/265218\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orange County study shows nearly 1,000 crashes at stretch of Hiawassee Road intersections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">PINE HILLS, Fla. \u2013 Earlier this week, we told you about new Orange County data showing multiple pedestrian crashes along Hiawassee road, but that report also found hundreds of crashes at intersections along the roadway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">A new Orange County bike and pedestrian safety study released last month found 981 crashes at intersections along Hiawassee Road between Silver Star Road and Balboa Drive from 2019 to 2024. Only 37 of those crashes involved a bicycle or pedestrian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">62% or 607 of those crashes happened at intersection. 337 of those crashes resulted in injury, 3 of which were deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Where Hiawassee meets Silver Star, is one of the most dangerous intersections, according to the report. From 2019 to 2024 \u2014 465 crashes happened at this intersection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">There were also 98 crashes at Balboa Drive\/Vernon Street and 44 at Hennepin Boulevard during that time according to the report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThe report also says this intersection ranks fourth on the county\u2019s top 30 corridors in its high-injury network.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThat\u2019s Hiawassee Point. I got hit making a left into that area,\u201d said Lakiesha Dixon<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In 2024, Dixon and her son were taken to the hospital after they were hit on the other side of Silver Star Road, where Hiawassee Road connects with Coral Cove Drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cIt was a very scary experience. My son and I have PTSD as a result of that crash. And soon after our crash, there started to be fatal crashes at that same intersection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In 2025, eight people were killed in crashes along Hiawassee Road, including some at intersections. Dixon says that\u2019s why improvements are needed at every intersection along Hiawassee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThe visibility is very poor because people are going over hills and they can\u2019t see downhill. By the time they can see, it\u2019s too late. They\u2019ve already hit another vehicle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Orange County District 6 Commissioner Mike Scott said the county plans to use the data to prioritize safety improvements along the corridor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">County officials are working to add speed-feedback signs, new \u201cSignal Ahead\u201d warnings and updated road markings in the area since Dixon\u2019s crash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Transportation Planning Division has submitted a request for a safety study north of Silver Star Road (like Hiawassee Road south of Silver Star Road) to be budgeted next fiscal year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Board of County Commissioners sets the budget in September ahead of the fiscal year start on October 1st. <\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kiwhtN\">Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINE HILLS, Fla. \u2013 Earlier this week, we told you about new Orange County data showing multiple pedestrian&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1776,1335,139,141,140,4777,729],"class_list":["post-265218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crash","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-pine-hills","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}