Background

The Pine Hills and Lockhart areas of unincorporated Orange County, as well as the City of Apopka to the north of the study area have experienced substantial growth over the past several years, as has all of central Florida. Similarly, Seminole County and Altamonte Springs including the I-4 corridor to the east of the study area have also grown substantially.

Traffic volumes on the local roadway networks have increased in kind. In recent years, Orange County has completed Roadway Conceptual Analysis (RCA) studies on segments of Edgewater Drive to the east, and Pine Hills Road to the south of this project. Orange County also recently completed the construction of the Hiawassee Road extension from Beggs Road to US 441. Furthermore, Seminole County has improvement projects underway on segments of Eden Park Road and Bunnell Road, both located just east of this project.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) completed the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study of the Apopka Bypass, and received Location Design Concept Acceptance (LDA) of the recommended project from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 1998. The recommended alignment for the Apopka Bypass extends to the west from the Maitland Boulevard / US 441 intersection, generally paralleling Beggs Road.

All of the above-described projects were planned and/or constructed to serve the ever-increasing transportation demand traveling to, from or through this project's study area. The purpose of the Pine Hills Road Extension is simply to further assist in meeting the area's local and regional transportation demand. An extension of Pine Hills Road, which would connect to a major arterial roadway would greatly enhance the mobility options for the traveling public.

Recent travel forecasting exercises further confirm that the traffic volumes on the existing roadway network will continue increasing well into the future. If no physical improvements are made to the roadway network, traffic congestion and motorist delays will increase throughout the area.

Extending Pine Hills Road to the north will improve the connectivity between this area of Orange County and the rest of central Florida. Furthermore, the continuous roadway will provide an additional north-south corridor relieving congestion along John Young Parkway, Hiawassee Road, and US 441.

The Study Area for this RCA, highlighted on the Project Map, generally extends from south of Beggs Road to north of the Overland Road / US 441 intersection, and from just west of Overland Road to just west of Rose Avenue. As shown, the project study area encompasses portions of unincorporated Orange and Seminole counties. Within Orange County, the study area is located within Commission District 2 represented by Commissioner Robert B. "Bob" Sindler. The Seminole County portion of the study area lies within District 3, represented by Commissioner Dick Van Der Weide. The study area does not encroach into any city limits.

Purpose

Orange County initiated the Pine Hills Road Extension RCA Study in January 2004 to determine the most appropriate location and configuration of a roadway improvement project linking Pine Hills Road, which currently terminates at a "T" intersection with Beggs Road, to US 441 at Maitland Boulevard. The RCA Study will also reevaluate the previously recommended improvement for the segment of Beggs Road that extends from 200 feet west of Overland Road to the US 441 overpass. The total length of the Pine Hills Road extension will be approximately 1.7 miles, while the length of the Beggs Road revaluation segment is about 0.5 miles.

During the RCA Study, Orange County will develop and evaluate the benefits and impacts of a number of alternative extension concepts. We will first confirm the need for the extension through a series of technical traffic analyses. Next, alternative alignment concepts will be developed. The County will estimate the potential benefits and social, environmental and physical impacts associated with each alternative.

The community will be involved throughout the process. Residents, business owners and interest groups will have multiple opportunities to review project information and participate in the decision making process. The public will be invited to formal public meetings and County study team members will make themselves available to attend small group or community meetings to review project specific information. Ultimately, the project will be reviewed and approved by the Orange County Local Planning Agency and the Board of County Commissioners.