Work underway to make S.R. 472 safer

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Work underway to make S.R. 472 safer
BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON<br> WORK IN PROGRESS — Laborers are busy on a safety project on State Road 472 between DeLand and Orange City. The $1.2 million improvements are supposed to be completed by late summer.

Workers are busily trying to make a western segment of State Road 472 safer for motorists.

Crews are modifying the median west of the intersection of the highway with Minnesota Avenue of Orange City, as the Florida Department of Transportation plans to revamp the intersection for those who travel on either or both roads.

The construction zone is approximately a half-mile between a point west of the intersection and just east of Durfey Avenue.

“The purpose of this project is to enhance safety and mobility at the intersection of S.R. 472 and Minnesota Avenue,” wrote Hannah Weary, a FDOT community-outreach specialist.

The $1.2 million project involves constructing a bidirectional median that allows eastbound and westbound drivers [on 472] to make left turns onto Minnesota Avenue.

The new median, however, will restrict motorists traveling on Minnesota Avenue; they will be allowed to make right turns only onto S.R. 472.

Those who make the turns onto the highway will have to travel to the next cut in the median to make a U-turn if they wish to go in the opposite direction.

Once the project is finished, westbound drivers will not be allowed to make U-turns in the intersection itself.

The changes in the intersection and the median west of it will “reduce potential vehicle collision points at the intersection,” Weary also noted.

The project will include some repaving, drainage improvements, restriping and placing new signs along the roadways.

The FDOT ordered the intersection modifications, even though some people living nearby had asked for a traffic signal to be installed.

The contractor for the safety project is Wrangler Construction Inc., a Miami company.

The project began earlier in the spring, and it is supposed to be completed in the late summer.

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