Signal · Notice

Concrete barriers, off-road detours, and a pavement report: why the road sat closed

noted Sep 1, 2026

Before the rebuild began, the Flemings Road–Sawgrass Bay connection sat closed — concrete barriers on the Orange County end, “road closed” signs on the Lake County end, and divots in the ground where drivers skirted around them off-road. An engineer’s report commissioned by Orange County found the closed western half of the road weaker than the eastern half, projected 15,000 vehicle trips a day (11% of them trucks), and concluded the pavement would begin deteriorating within a year at that volume. Residents organized as Connect 2025 pushed the county to open the road, which Orange County said would follow a complicated right-of-way process — its final pieces a permanent roadway easement with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and multiple easements with Walt Disney World — with construction estimated at eighteen months once acquisitions closed.

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