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{{tncms-inline alignment=”right” content=”<ul> <li>The County Council will award the contract for the work this spring, and the actual construction may begin in May or June, according to Volusia County Engineer Tadd Kasbeer.</li> <li>The work entails widening the portion of Orange Camp Road between Blue Lake Avenue and Interstate 4 from two to four lanes.</li> <li>The project also includes the conversion of the signalized intersection at Orange Camp Road and the Martin Luther King Jr. Beltway into a free-flowing roundabout.</li> <li>The estimated total construction time is about 10 to 14 months.</li> <li>The total cost of the combined project is now estimated at $10.75 million. $5.9 million will come from a 2004 county road bond issue, while $3.4 million will come from road impact fees. The remaining $1.5 million will come from the county’s local-option gasoline tax revenue.</li> <li>About 30,000 vehicles pass through the Orange Camp/MLK intersection each day, according to 2018 traffic counts.</li> </ul>” id=”35682e41-0444-4d16-b74b-f2d148132b65″ style-type=”info” title=”FAST FACTS: Orange Camp Road improvements” type=”relcontent” width=”half”}}

After changes in design that delayed the widening of the easternmost segment of Orange Camp Road in DeLand, the long-awaited project may begin in a few months and be completed next year.

The scope of the project involves converting the crossing of Orange Camp Road and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Beltway from a controlled intersection to a roundabout and four-laning the mile-plus length of Orange Camp Road between Blue Lake Avenue and Interstate 4.

“When we switched to the roundabout, that took some extra time,” Volusia County Engineer Tadd Kasbeer said. “We try to keep the Victoria Park HOA [Homeowners Association] up to date.”

Kasbeer added the county has begun soliciting bids for the project. The deadline for contractors to submit their offers is in early March.

“In this process, we’re asking them to submit their qualifications and how long it would take them to do the work,” he said. “The lowest bidder may not be the one [selected to receive the contract].”

The County Council will award the contract this spring, and the actual construction may begin in May or June, according to Kasbeer.

Although the construction of the traffic circle at Orange Camp Road and the MLK Beltway will occur in conjunction with the widening of Orange Camp Road, Kasbeer said the roundabout will be especially challenging.

“The mast arms [and their traffic signals] will be coming down. It’s not easy going from a signalized intersection to a roundabout,” he said. “There’s no good way to shut down that intersection. We don’t want people to have a bad day. We will do everything possible to keep traffic moving through there.”

Kasbeer acknowledged road work, while it is underway, frequently results in traffic delays that are worse than the problems it is intended to resolve.

He also noted that accelerating completion of the roundabout may cause drivers some short-term pain.

Kasbeer estimated the total time of construction of the roundabout and the additional lanes of Orange Camp Road will be 10 to 14 months.

The total cost of the combined project is now estimated at $10.75 million.

Much of the funding, almost $5.9 million, comes from the county’s 2004 road bond issue, while $3.4 million will come from road impact fees paid by developers. The remainder, almost $1.5 million, will come from the county’s local-option gasoline tax.

Traffic counts from 2018 — the most recent data available — show an average of approximately 30,000 vehicles pass through the intersection of Orange Camp Road and MLK Beltway each day.

The four-laning of Orange Camp Road between the MLK Beltway and I-4 has been on the county’s road program for more than a decade.

The project was delayed by the slump in revenues from gas taxes and road impact fees resulting from the recession.