Speed limit to drop along 434 in Winter Springs

If you’re driving along State Road 434 in Winter Springs in the next few months, you might want to keep your lead foot in check. The Florida Department of Transportation has completed a traffic study along S.R. 434 from U.S. 17-92 to S.R. 419. The state is preparing to resurface the road, and as part of the project is adjusting the speed limit, possibly in multiple ways.

The current speed limit is 45 mph on that stretch. Zachary Zalneraitis, FDOT’s traffic studies engineer, said one reason for the reduction is that there are four lights within one mile. 

“Part of the contributing factors is (that) it’s by the elementary school where students are walking,” he said. 

FDOT is recommending the following speed limit changes: 

• 40 mph between JE Correll Drive and Belle Avenue
• 35 mph between Belle Avenue and Moss Road
• 40 mph between Moss Road and 500 feet west of S.R. 419

The new speed signs should be installed within 30 to 60 days. Zalneraitis said the speed limit will drop gradually, and there will be “speed feedback signs installed with a future project,” which use radar and let drivers know if they are speeding.

The traffic study, which you can download here, noted two fatal motorcycle crashes along that corridor; in both cases, a driver making a left failed to yield to the motorcycle. In both cases, the motorcycle driver was also going faster than the speed limit.

Separately, Zalneraitis said FDOT is studying lowering the speed limit on S.R. 434 between Chapman Road and S.R. 426 in Oviedo. 

Winter Springs flipped back and forth over the limit along Winter Springs Boulevard in recent years. Unlike Winter Springs Boulevard, S.R. 434 is under the jurisdiction of the state.