David Vogel Sr. Project Engineer with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT District 7) addressed the Board of County Commissioners about the status of road improvements on the State Road 50/Cortez Blvd Corridor.
Mr. Vogel stated that they have made good progress with 72% of construction complete. They are on schedule to be finished by fall of this year.
Mr. Vogel emphasized that traffic congestion will not be improved until the project is complete because State Road 50 will not be opened up to three lanes and signals won’t be synchronized until then. They also will not be able to get dual lefts in until after the capacity project is finished.
Despite traffic congestion, Mr. Vogel did offer that there won’t be anymore major traffic shifts until they open things up to the third lane. However there will be a minor shift to construct the tie in at Deltona in which they will have to take away left turn lane. This will take about a week.
Commissioner Adkins asked Mr. Vogel to address several issues he has noticed in the corridor. Mr. Adkins questioned why a left turn signal will come on at an intersection when there are no cars in the left turn lane. Mr. Vogel explained that the contractor is required to use detectors but they are using temporary microwave detectors that tend to malfunction. There is one location where they can’t get a detector to work at all due to overhead powerlines. Mr. Vogel said that contractors check detection systems at all times when they drive through. They have 24 hours to respond to detectors that are malfunctioning.
Mr. Adkins also asked Mr. Vogel about the left hand turn lane on Cortez and Mariner that backs up into the west bound through lanes. Mr. Vogel explained that there are a couple of reasons why this is happening:
FIrst, the new Cortez Commons shopping center has increased traffic. Second, they are in the process of constructing a crossover at Weeping Willow. It’s going to be a directional crossover but right now it’s completely closed. The westbound traffic that needs to turn at Weeping Willow is having to turn around and go back to Mariner.
Mr. Vogel mentioned that they are constructing a U-turn at Mariner which will be ready towards the end of summer. The U-turn will be the northern most lane and the left turn lane will be adjacent to that (just south) next to the through lanes. They are also planning to extend the left hand turn lanes onto Mariner from Cortez to alleviate the back up.
The U-turn, left hand turn lane extension, synchronization of stoplights and opening of the additional lane should be done by the end of the summer. For now, continue to plan for extra drive time due to increased traffic on State Road 50.