Residents in the Four Corners area won’t see a long-awaited roadway connection from Orange to Lake County come to fruition until the end of next year, according to an amended road network agreement approved by Orange County commissioners Tuesday. The amendment pushes back the project’s expected completion date, from January 1, 2026, to November 30, 2026.
Builders will have to use “good faith efforts” to meet the timeline outlined by the agreement, which has now been amended twice since it was originally enacted in 2020.
RELATED: When roads run short: the challenges of living in a car-centric Central Florida
Once the anticipated roadway connection is complete, Lake County’s Sawgrass Bay Boulevard will link to Orange County’s Flemings Road.
Lake County finished its part of the project in May. But construction in Orange County still had yet to begin as of earlier this month, according to Transportation Planning Division Manager Brian Sanders.
Flemings is a rural road, historically used by citrus farmers, which needs to be widened to accommodate rising traffic demand in the fast-growing Four Corners area. Seventeen different property owners are parties to the roadway network agreement with Orange County, adding layers of complexity that have taken time to work through, according to the county.
Meanwhile, as developers and county staff have negotiated right-of-way acquisitions and other project logistics, area residents have grown impatient waiting on the roadway connection. Some say it would speed up their daily commutes by half an hour or more.
Last year, before the county blocked off access to Flemings Road, some residents say they were using it as a makeshift shortcut. A barricade previously blocking off Sawgrass Bay Boulevard was removed earlier this year, after Lake County finished its portion of the project, but a cement barricade at Flemings Road remains in place, Lake County resident Debbie Running confirmed Tuesday.
Running didn’t use the shortcut herself but understands why some people would choose to do so, she said.
“We have to keep a little pressure on [Orange County], because there’s no guarantee that they won’t delay it again,” Running said.
Residents have created a website detailing the project’s history and to track ongoing developments.
