{"id":350959,"date":"2026-07-24T10:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350959\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:53:16","slug":"florida-transportation-officials-seek-public-input-on-plan-to-widen-east-colonial-drive-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350959\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Transportation officials seek public input on plan to widen East Colonial Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Big changes could be coming to a busy stretch of State Road 50, and the Florida Department of Transportation wants the public\u2019s input.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">FDOT is in the design phase for a project on East Colonial Drive from Avalon Park Boulevard to Chuluota Road. The plan could add lanes, build shared-use paths on both sides of the roadway and make intersection improvements. It also includes additional stormwater drainage ponds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">To see what the corridor looks like now, News 6\u2019s Amy Russo drove the route Thursday morning and quickly saw why FDOT is looking at upgrades. She reports the road is heavily traveled, with drivers moving through multiple busy intersections \u2014 and many bicyclists sharing the corridor, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">FDOT officials said about 46,000 vehicles travel this stretch each day. Under the current concept, the roadway would go from four lanes to six lanes, adding one lane in each direction and separating traffic with a raised median.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">One unique piece of the proposal would add a new access road intended for school buses, connecting the Orange County bus depot at East River High School with State Road 50 near the Corner School Drive intersection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">FDOT is also proposing new pedestrian crossing improvements at Sandy Creek Lane, where the existing sidewalk runs very close to the roadway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">If approved, construction could begin as soon as fall 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 bTVksG\">More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Big changes could be coming to a busy stretch of State Road 50, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1335,139,141,140,729],"class_list":["post-350959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350959","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=350959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}