By Christine Moore, Orange County District 2 commissioner
I’m excited about the public involvement portion of the upcoming county comprehensive transportation study of northwest Orange County. In fact, the study is referred to as NOWOCATS or Northwest Orange County Comprehensive Area Transportation Study.
There will be two major community meetings involving four areas of northwest Orange County. More than 50,000 people will be invited. An additional offering will be online viewing. The first meeting will be scheduled for September. The final meeting, after receiving public input, will be held in November.
This effort began two years ago after I successfully got county staff to meet with the city of Apopka transportation staff. They had several difficult discussions. The county’s position is that with the incredibly high cost of roadway capacity expansion, both parties must pay their fair share of expansion. So, determining funding responsibilities by which entity approves growth will be a large scope of the work.
This study has taken a year to “scope” out the services needed, areas to be studied, and to complete the vendor procurement process. The vendor the county selected is VHB, or Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. Project cost analysis and prioritizations will be determined. Staff preliminarily indicated intersection improvements are recommended as the first projects to be undertaken to bring much needed relief.
It is my understanding from Orange County Transportation Planning Staff that the following will be evaluated:
Scope of Work for NOWOCATS Study
44 intersections
50 roadway segments
Pavement conditions
Fiber optics
Utility relocations
Future roads needed due to growth
Stakeholders included in the meetings
(in addition to the citizens)
City of Apopka
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Florida Department of Transportation
Wekiwa Springs State Park
Homeowners’ Associations
Lynx
The first meeting is to hear the concerns of the people and stakeholders. The second meeting will be to unveil the results of the study. I’m pleased this effort is moving forward. My only regret is that it didn’t take place about five years sooner. It takes time for elected officials to learn our craft and how to properly advocate for solutions with these large departments and agencies.
Special thanks to county staff Joe Kunkel, Jon Weiss, Brian Sanders and Hatem Abou-Senna for making this study a reality.
The Apopka Chief is an award-winning weekly newspaper serving the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923.
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