McCulloch Road expansion denied by Orange County

The Orange County Commission on Tuesday denied a controversial expansion of a one-mile stretch of McCulloch Road on the border between Orange and Seminole counties.

Orange County Commissioners said there wasn’t enough buy-in from the community on the project. Seminole County declined to fund any part of the expansion, and some commissioners have vocally opposed the project over fears it lead to further expansions east into environmentally sensitive land. 

Commissioners heard from nine residents in Orange and Seminole counties Tuesday. All but one were opposed to expanding the road. 

“Unfortunately we’re really in a situation where we just don’t have stakeholder buy-in,” said Orange County Commissioner Kelly Semrad. “Seminole County – all of us received a letter March 4 from their Commission. They don’t support it. Our [Land Planning Agency], our own appointed representatives don’t support this. (The) Sierra Club has opposition to it.”

Want to contact your elected leaders and weigh in on this topic? Find Orange County Commission contacts here, city of Oviedo contacts here, and Seminole County Commission contacts here. Have a news tip or opinion to share with OCN? Do that here. 

Parts of the project might not be completely dead, though. Orange County Commissioners were interested in expanding pedestrian and bike access along McCulloch Road.  

“Let us just come back,” said Orange County Administrator Byron Brooks. “We have to develop the scope on that.”

Residents fear McCulloch expansion could lead to development further east

For semi-retired Oviedo resident Ileana Miranda, being close to nature was one reason she bought a townhouse in Hawthorne Glen, off of McCulloch Road.

She’s about 500 steps from the Little Econlockhatchee River, and most mornings she walks around her neighborhood. She regularly sees deer, armadillos, raccoons and turtles. 

“The turtles, they’re very cute,” Miranda said. “The raccoons, I stay away because they can be friendly. They try to get you for food.”

Miranda was worried about a proposed expansion to a one-mile stretch of McCulloch Road, which you can see from her house. The $32 million project was planned to go from Lockwood Boulevard to Old Lockwood Road, and is the literal border between Orange and Seminole counties. 

“If they expand to four lanes, it’s going to be closer to my home, and there is a variety of wellness (issues) that are going to affect, in terms of contamination, pollution, sleep problems,” Miranda said. 

The one-mile corridor starts at Old Lockwood Road, an intersection where you can see The  Bounce House, the University of Central Florida’s football stadium. From there, the road drops down from four lanes to two lanes – all the way east to Old Lockwood Road, where the Econ River Wilderness Area begins on the Seminole County side of the road. 

Oviedo resident Greg Robinson attended several meetings to speak about the McCulloch Road project. He was worried about the possible environmental impacts, and losing a grass buffer between the road and his home of more than 20 years.

He said he regularly sees herds of deer by his house.

“It’s a want, not a need,” Robinson said of the potential road expansion. “It’s going to disrupt the Econ (Wilderness) Area, and it’s  going to add to calls to develop this area. … Spending $33 million to widen one mile of road for no good reason is just wasteful. It’s not a need.”

Orange County officials said the road previously operated at an “F” level of service before the pandemic dropped the traffic counts down. Currently, about 19,000 cars travel the stretch every day. The expansion also called for more bicycle and pedestrian pathways.

Orange County Transportation Services Division Chief Planner Brian Sanders said there were also 166 crashes in a five-year study period, including 49 injuries; none of the crashes were fatal. Sanders said during public meetings – including one with nearly 70 residents who attended – the major fear was an expansion of McCulloch Road further east and a bridge over the Econ River. 

“The long-range plan does not substantiate that,” Sanders said. “Nobody wants to do that in Orange or Seminole. The developers do. But the agencies do not. We are steadfast in that.”

Sanders asked Orange County to only approve moving forward on the project after getting a joint agreement with Seminole County that would have required both governmental bodies to approve extending McCulloch Road. 

‘The road is overcrowded’

Some residents did speak in favor of the expansion. 

At an Orange County Land Planning Agency meeting in May, five people spoke about the McCulloch Road expansion, and four were opposed to it. 

Dan Hale lives in Oviedo, and graduated from the University of Central Florida when it was still Florida Technological University. 

He said his community has about 350 residents, and is going to expand to 500 residents in the coming years. He asked commissioners to vote in favor of expanding the road. 

“We need that project to go forward. The road is overcrowded, especially during UCF football games, graduations,” Hale said. “If you’re coming home in the evening and want to get past the UCF campus, the road becomes one-lane, and that’s the other traffic congestion.”

Ultimately, the Land Planning Agency – which functions like Seminole County’s Planning and Zoning Board – recommended that the full Orange County Commission deny the road expansion. Before Tuesday’s final county vote, another resident said there were issues biking in the area, and wanted to see more bike lanes and pedestrian safety projects. 

The preferred project by Orange County staff would have included a six-foot sidewalk on the north side of the roadway and 10-foot multi-use path on the south side. You can read about the project here. You can watch video of the meeting here.  Check here to sign up for updates on the project.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said Sanders, the Orange County’s chief road planner, did his best to get the project approved. But ultimately the specter of development was too great a fear to overcome. 

“You did your best, and that’s all you can do sometimes,” Demings said. “Because of that specter that’s out there that you referenced, it’s very difficult to get past that specter in the minds of a lot of people.”

Want to contact your elected leaders and weigh in on this topic? Find Orange County Commission contacts here, city of Oviedo contacts here, and Seminole County Commission contacts here. Have a news tip or opinion to share with OCN? Do that here.

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member.