The city of Apopka finished Phase 1A of the Welch Road/Rock Springs Road intersection upgrade project, and city officials say there is noted improvement in the traffic flow there.
The intersection is notorious for being the site of the city’s worst traffic. The improvements are a joint effort between the city of Apopka and Orange County. Some of the intersection is inside the Apopka city limits, and some is in unincorporated Orange County.
“The (traffic) volumes haven’t changed. It’s just the speed at which they’re moving through the intersection,” said city traffic engineer Pam Richmond. “So, your wait time, where let’s say before you might have to wait through two or even three cycles of a signal, that might have been reduced by one. It’s a big deal.”
Phase 1, which commenced last summer, is split into phase 1A and 1B. 1A involves removing the left-turn lane gores on Rock Springs Road, both north and south of Welch Road; and switching the three-head traffic light for a five-head one with a right-turn green arrow.
The gores were removed to give more stacking area for left turns, thus keeping the through lanes clear for traffic wanting to continue straight through the intersection. The north side gore was removed earlier this month. The south side gore was taken out this week.
As for the traffic signal switch, the new five-head signal will allow right turns from westbound Welch Road to northbound Rock Springs Road to continue without stopping, when southbound left turns from Rock Springs Road to eastbound Welch Road have a green light. This change will allow more right turns through the intersection and reduce the backup on Welch Road.
Changes were monitored before school began in the summer. Once school began on August 12, the changes were observed again to see if the opening of schools has any significant effect.
Traffic has a smoother flow now, but there is another problem that still exists.
“There are drivers that aren’t necessarily paying attention. They’re so accustomed to having to wait there because you have to stop and then turn,” Richmond said. “They’re becoming more used to, ‘Oh, I’m going to have a green arrow so when the car in front of me goes, I should go, too.’ We’re still going through the retraining of drivers process, but in general, we’ve seen enough change where people have called us up and said, ‘Yeah, we can see a difference.’ But, it’s not the ultimate fix yet.”
The city has now advanced to Phase 1B, which is re-striping westbound Welch Road so there would be a left turn, a through-right turn and a right turn. This change will require adding a third signal head.
Before the signal head can be added, the city will need to perform a structural analysis of the mast arm to ensure it can handle the additional weight.
If it can, the city intends to make this improvement by the end of the year.
If not, a new mast arm must be purchased at a high cost, making it likely that this job may need to be pushed into Phase 2.
Phase 2 will involve conducting a study exploring mobility improvements in the intersection’s area and assess, in part, moving electrical transmission poles, the need to widen Welch Road and adding turn lanes to the intersection. The city of Apopka and Orange County will jointly conduct the study that MetroPlan Orlando, the regional transportation-planning agency, will fund. The study will be initiated in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, with hope that it’ll finish within one year’s time. Richmond is currently preparing the funding assistance application on the city and the county’s behalf.
The city of Apopka is also working with a developer on the northwest corner of the Welch Road/Rock Springs Road intersection to provide 12 feet of right-of-way needed for an additional turn lane, Richmond said.
The city of Apopka’s cost for improving the Welch Road/Rock Springs Road intersection would be a few million dollars. However, the exact cost is “a difficult question to answer right now because there are certain things we don’t know” Richmond said, such as the cost of moving transmission poles.
At the July 18 Apopka City Council meeting, Richmond said she expects long-term fixes to the intersection to cost between $2 million and $3 million.
