Oviedo accepts state grant for major road safety project

A major roadway in Oviedo is now in line to receive significant funding for safety improvements.

During its April 6 meeting, Oviedo’s City Council approved accepting a $1.5 million state-funded grant agreement for the West Mitchell Hammock Road Corridor Safety Improvements Project, and to allow the project to progress.

Extending from just east of State Road 426 to just west of South Lake Jessup Avenue, the project’s cost is estimated to be $4 million, which means the city would still be responsible for more than $2.5 million for it. The city’s portion would come from the Third Generation One Cent Sales Tax Fund, and is anticipated to total $2.575 million.

The project would be part of Oviedo’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2045. The action plan is part of a larger initiative with Metro Plan Orlando, partnering with Seminole County and the Florida Department of Transportation. It follows the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program.

It identified the top-five intersections in Oviedo in terms of high injury and crash potential:

Mitchell Hammock Road and South Norma Avenue
S.R. 434 and Alafaya Woods Boulevard
S.R. 434/South Central Avenue and Mitchell Hammock Road
C.R. 419/Broadway Street and Avenue B
S.R. 434/North Central Avenue and West Artesia Street

“This is a needed project that’s been identified for years,” Assistant Public Works Director/Assistant City Engineer Paul Yeargain said of the Mitchell Hammock improvements. “It’s going to bring safety to that corridor, which is very dangerous.”

The project, which has been designed but still needs to undergo a bidding process, is planned to include adding street lighting, incorporating a raised median and an 8-foot sidewalk on the north side of West Mitchell Hammock, as well as road resurfacing, drainage and other improvements.

Council members, however, voiced concern about the cost of the project, but not wanting to turn down money granted by the state.

Drivers currently aren’t separated by a barrier along West Mitchell Hammock Road, which the proposed project would address. Photo by Isaac Benjamin Babcock

“Essentially, if we accept the grant, it is a promise that we will complete [the project],” Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said. “If we do not do this, the state will never give us a grant again. That’s how I look at it.”

Councilmember Alan Ott also raised questions about the cost for the city.

“Four million dollars is a lot to me — even the $2.5 [million] that we would be on the hook for,” he said.

“I look at this and go: that’s probably my favorite piece of road in Oviedo city limits,” he said. “I think it’s great.”

Despite their concerns, both Ott and Sladek joined the rest of the City Council members to approve accepting the grant and moving forward.

“We came at this from a safety standpoint because we have had some deaths on that road, we’ve had some bad accidents,” Deputy Mayor Natalie Teuchert said. “I assume when [the project] happens, residents are not going to be happy, it’s going to slow down traffic. But what it does, it’s putting a barrier in the middle. It’s a safety issue.”