Over the next few weeks, the city will begin work on two larger road projects in different areas of Apopka.
One of the city of Apopka’s projects will extend Harmon Road from its current end at Ocoee-Apopka Road to Marden Road, allowing more direct access to AdventHealth Apopka hospital.
The other city project will improve the intersection of U.S. Highway 441 and Errol Parkway.
Harmon Road
When AdventHealth moved its Apopka hospital campus from Park Avenue in downtown Apopka to the intersection of Ocoee-Apopka Road and Harmon Road in the southwest area of Apopka, the only way to get to the hospital was either via Ocoee-Apopka Road or Binion Road with Harmon Road connecting those two roads on the north side of the hospital that opened in December 2017.
With housing development in that area continuing to grow, having access to the hospital from Marden Road, which paralleled Ocoee-Apopka Road to the east, became a major priority, but funding Harmon Road to be the connecting road was a high-priced job for a municipal roadway.
The city got $1 million in state funds passed into the state budget, but never could get the funding past the governor’s veto pen.
“It was time to get this done. We realized we weren’t going to get the legislative appropriation,” said Pam Richmond, the city’s traffic coordinator.
Now, however, the city has built up enough in traffic impact fees to pay for the 0.4-mile roadway extension that will cost $3.5 million.
Richmond said she expects the project to go to bid soon and that the company that wins the bid should be able to start turning dirt on the extension in June with a construction timetable of eight months to 12 months.
Along with the construction of the Harmon Road extension, the city will also build its sixth fire station building, replacing the current temporary Station 6 on the hospital campus, along the extension with immediate access to Ocoee-Apopka Road. The city did receive $1 million in state money to help fund the fire station.
With property along the extension route being owned by the city of Apopka, AdventHealth, and the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX), there were very small parcels of land swapped between the city and AdventHealth, and right-of-way donated by the expressway authority.
There will be a traffic light installed at Ocoee-Apopka Road and Harmon Road once construction is complete on the extension, plus flashing traffic lights will be installed in front of Station 6 as part of the project.
Errol Parkway, U.S. 441
When Errol Parkway was built in the early 1970s, its southern terminus was at Old Dixie Highway. The road was eventually extended to U.S. 441 where it has been for decades.
However, the portion between Old Dixie Highway and U.S. 441 has become increasingly crowded as development has built up over the years, including a nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket along with competing home improvement stores of Lowe’s and Home Depot.
With development ongoing on the south side of U.S. 441, including an imaging center and an urgent care, the city decided that it was time to improve the intersection.
Richmond said the improvements will include new traffic signals as well as widening of Errol Parkway’s approach to U.S. 441 via the narrowing of the median along that short stretch.
Construction could begin as early as next month for the $530,000 project.
An extended story appears in the Friday, March 25, issue of The Apopka Chief. Subscribe today!
The Apopka Chief and The Planter are weekly community newspapers, independently owned and family operated, that have served the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923 and 1965 respectively.
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