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I am going to respectfully disagree with you that Orlando doesn't have traffic issues. It has them now and they are serious issues. Not as bad as other major cities, but they will be if our population doubles in the next 30 years
Take a drive ANYWHERE on East Colonial between the Fashion Sq Mall and Bithlo. At rush hour that entire stretch will be jammed up (are people THAT cheap that they won't take the 408?) This is why I take Robinson St between downtown and Maguire Blvd. It's much quicker
I can think of several intersections on OBT where traffic jams up real bad
OBT & - Taft Vineland Rd
- Landstreet Rd
- Sand Lake Rd
- Oak Ridge Rd
- Americana Blvd
- Holden Ave
John Young backs up real bad at rush hour too at
-Hunter's Creek Blvd
-Town Center Blvd
-Deerfield Blvd
-Whisper Lakes Blvd
-Central Florida Pkwy
-Taft Vineland Rd
-The entire stretch between 528 and Sand Lake
In fact if you take 528 east at rush hour in the evening to get off on John Young going south, often times the traffic back up at Taft Vineland gets so bad, that it backs up the off ramp and onto the 528 itself. It takes me up to 35 minutes to drive 10 miles home from work sometimes and often 20 of those minutes are just because of that particular daily jam
I-4 gets very bad as well. Anytime in the evening rush hour, its usually backed up from Conroy Rd all the way up to 434 in Longwood, a 16 mile stretch thats at a dead standstill every weekday morning and evening rush And if there's an accident or 2, it can get backed up all the way down to 528 or worse
Orange Ave is another road to avoid between Michigan Ave and the 408, that SODO area is a constant jam, and 17-92 in Winter Park is awful as well
I can say the same for Highway 192 (Vine St) in Kissimmee, as well as Osceola Pkwy in Buenaventura Lakes
The 4 counties need to get together and do something to solve what will be severe traffic issues over the next decades because if it's this bad now, Orlando WILL be the next LA in terms of traffic in 30 years. If I'm still living here, I don't want to have to tell my family "Well we better leave now to beat traffic" which is a common phrase in LA, and could become common here
Any road this constantly has a high volume of traffic and runs consistently well below the speed limit, and any road where red lights back up cars for 1 mile+ during rush hour, John Young between Hunter's Creek and Sand Lake is HORRIBLE at this. And most roads in Orlando CONSTANTLY have a heavy volume of traffic even when its not rush hour which means these roads are already running at capacity if not running over their capacity like South OBT is
John Young runs about 40-45 even though the speed limit is 55, even when not at rush hour
OBT runs about 25-35 in a 45 zone
Another bad one is Sand Lake between I-4 and Apopka Vineland in Dr Phillips. Traffic is constantly clogged up there. My 25 minute drive to often has 15 of those minutes spent just on Sand Lake between I-4 and Dr Phillips Blvd
And E Colonial is like I-4 at rush hour. Its pretty much a dead standstill from Downtown all the way to Bithlo, an even worse jam than I-4. Downtown to Bithlo is about 25 mile stretch of E Colonial. Thats an awful long stretch of a nightmarish traffic jam if you ask me
Any road this constantly has a high volume of traffic and runs consistently well below the speed limit, and any road where red lights back up cars for 1 mile+ during rush hour, John Young between Hunter's Creek and Sand Lake is HORRIBLE at this. And most roads in Orlando CONSTANTLY have a heavy volume of traffic even when its not rush hour which means these roads are already running at capacity if not running over their capacity like South OBT is
John Young runs about 40-45 even though the speed limit is 55, even when not at rush hour
OBT runs about 25-35 in a 45 zone
Another bad one is Sand Lake between I-4 and Apopka Vineland in Dr Phillips. Traffic is constantly clogged up there. My 25 minute drive to often has 15 of those minutes spent just on Sand Lake between I-4 and Dr Phillips Blvd
And E Colonial is like I-4 at rush hour. Its pretty much a dead standstill from Downtown all the way to Bithlo, an even worse jam than I-4. Downtown to Bithlo is about 25 mile stretch of E Colonial. Thats an awful long stretch of a nightmarish traffic jam if you ask me
I hope they let us continue this debate. Ithhink it's apart of Orlando's boom although specifically talking about traffic at this point. See I have to disagree. I don't think it's they heavy volume of traffic. That is an intangible factor we can't do anything about. People have the desire and need to go places with the roads provided. So I don't think we should focus on the volume. I think the traffic has more to do with the synchronization of the traffic lights between intersections.
Have you ever been to an intersection and the light was red for the main road with the most traffic while it was green for an extended time for the smaller road with less traffic for about 1 minute or so? That is what causes issues. People are going to always drive more cautiosly when there are more people (rush hour) on the road being it 10 mph or 5 mph or even 15 mph less than the posted speed limit. The speed limit signs are more like suggestions for the maximum safe speed. That doesnt mean when a flock of cars are on OBT everyone should drive 45. No that means 45mph should get you from light to light safely being there are many pedestrian crossings, and entrences to many business or residencies whatever it may be.
But I will agree with you in thhat some roads are underbuilt. John Young between Sand Lake and going south is an example as you stated. You know that's one reason why I visit the Wal MArt on Turkey Lake rather than Sand Lake because of that traffic and especailly between 4 Pm and 7 PM it's terrible. I know. IF your coming Northbound it could take you tops 15-20 minutes to get through that Sand Lake Light. It's horrible so your right about that.
The flow of traffic and it's volume can still be useful if lights are sync right. Examply. W. Colonial. You can get from I-4 to Winter Garden in about 10 minutes in Rush Hour if you drive 45. Why? Because the lights are Synched the right way for those group of cars that past the first two lights going westbound at 45, to maybe stop once or twice from I-4 to Winter Garden for a short period of time.
But I will agree with you in thhat some roads are underbuilt. John Young between Sand Lake and going south is an example as you stated. You know that's one reason why I visit the Wal MArt on Turkey Lake rather than Sand Lake because of that traffic and especailly between 4 Pm and 7 PM it's terrible. I know. IF your coming Northbound it could take you tops 15-20 minutes to get through that Sand Lake Light. It's horrible so your right about that.
The turkey lake WMT has hoards of tourists though, filling up suitcases with all kinds of stuff thanks to their strong currencies at home
The turkey lake WMT has hoards of tourists though, filling up suitcases with all kinds of stuff thanks to their strong currencies at home
So does Sand Lake Wal mart. I've seen buses of tourist at Sand Lake Wal mart lol. Literally there would be a bus or two sometime let the tourist get off and go nuts in Wal Mart. Plus Sand Lake Wal Mart lines are terrible.
I agree. And if Orlando's metro population does reach 4 million by 2042, would some of these negative posters begin to take Orlando for the serious major city it already is now? Probably not
I have to say Crane, while I do agree that local leaders need to plan for smarter growth, rather than build more and more cookie cutter subdivisions (I live in one myself), we should begin building UP and not building OUT. This city is spread far enough as it is. Can you imagine a day where SunTrust is NOT the tallest building downtown and as you drive on I-4 past Church Street there will be many multiple new skyscrapers that will be 40,50, even 60+ stories, on BOTH the east and west sides of the highway? These buildings would most likely be multi use commercial and residential buildings like how the Dynetech Tower is
And, if you follow along Orange Avenue from the Osceola Line to the Seminole line (it's Fairbanks Ave at that point) Orange County is fully developed from north to south
East to West is a different story. The eastern 3rd of Orange County is still pretty undeveloped and theres a LOT of vacant land out there. I remember reading something that a developer wanted to buy some the Deseret Ranch land to build 30,000 new HOMES!!!!!
Would you agree Orlando should do like Miami now and build up instead of out?
The first problem is the FAA & downtown being in the flight path of the Executive Airport so unless the Airport is closed down I don't see any thing higher than a 500 foot skyscraper. Miami has the same restrictions since it's in the flight path of MIA but it can build up to 1,049 feet downtown.
Second point is that Orlando has no natural boundaries like Miami has on both sides or even a Urban Growth boundary which restricts development. Miami-Dade has one that was established in the 1970s and has forced densification that has led to a almost complete build out in the county.
Unless Orange county can implement a growth boundary to restrict development I expect to see the Orlando area continue it's suburban / ex-urban sprawl.
Any road this constantly has a high volume of traffic and runs consistently well below the speed limit, and any road where red lights back up cars for 1 mile+ during rush hour, John Young between Hunter's Creek and Sand Lake is HORRIBLE at this. And most roads in Orlando CONSTANTLY have a heavy volume of traffic even when its not rush hour which means these roads are already running at capacity if not running over their capacity like South OBT is
John Young runs about 40-45 even though the speed limit is 55, even when not at rush hour
OBT runs about 25-35 in a 45 zone
Another bad one is Sand Lake between I-4 and Apopka Vineland in Dr Phillips. Traffic is constantly clogged up there. My 25 minute drive to often has 15 of those minutes spent just on Sand Lake between I-4 and Dr Phillips Blvd
And E Colonial is like I-4 at rush hour. Its pretty much a dead standstill from Downtown all the way to Bithlo, an even worse jam than I-4. Downtown to Bithlo is about 25 mile stretch of E Colonial. Thats an awful long stretch of a nightmarish traffic jam if you ask me
Its not too bad between the fashion sq mall and dean road, where its 6 lanes and has the flyover over semoran. its terrible from dean road to lake pickett though, and downtown to about bumby.
Another bad one is Sand Lake between I-4 and Apopka Vineland in Dr Phillips. Traffic is constantly clogged up there. My 25 minute drive to often has 15 of those minutes spent just on Sand Lake between I-4 and Dr Phillips Blvd
I've had a completely different experience. I've never seen gridlocked traffic on that stretch of Sand Lake. Although down towards the FL Mall is a different story altogether.
I've had a completely different experience. I've never seen gridlocked traffic on that stretch of Sand Lake. Although down towards the FL Mall is a different story altogether.
Either can be bad, but I think Dr Phillips is more predictable. The problem with south Orlando, especially, is that tourists can make traffic pretty unpredictable, not just the typical rush hour stuff in downtown to lake Mary
Either can be bad, but I think Dr Phillips is more predictable. The problem with south Orlando, especially, is that tourists can make traffic pretty unpredictable, not just the typical rush hour stuff in downtown to lake Mary
People seem to forget it is ALWAYS crowded on this side of town.
But I've never had a problem on Sand Lake East of John Young since the lane expansion. I can always get to the FLorida Mall smoothly on Sand Lake East Bound if needed. Now westbound as Davie said, thats a different ball game once over the Kirkman interchange. I HATE Sand Lake between Universal Blvd and Dr. Phillips. It's horrible. A nightmare and thats because it's too many people trying to go the same direction.
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And if there's an accident or 2, it can get backed up all the way down to 528 or worse
