Two months after Hurricane Milton dumped rain upon the area and caused widespread flooding, East Graves Avenue in Orange City is finally clear for travel once again.
“We opened it this morning,” City Engineer John Peters told The Beacon Dec. 10.
The road that spans Interstate 4 and connects Deltona with Orange City was closed because of high water that made the road impassable in a low stretch close to John Knox Village. An Orange City Public Works crew set up barricades on the east and west sides of the segment that was saturated with water from the storm’s rainfall and the spread of a lake on the north side of Graves Avenue.
After Hurricane Milton prompted the closing of Graves Avenue for thru travel in 2022 following Hurricane Ian, Orange City applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to raise the affected portion of the road, but the agency rejected the request. Peters said the city will reapply for FEMA funding, following the latest closing of East Graves Avenue.
The decision to resubmit a grant application to FEMA follows a visit by staffers of the federal agency’s Melbourne office last week, he said.
“Last Thursday we met with FEMA [for inspection] from 8:30 a.m. to noon,” Peters said.
The cost of the design, engineering and repair of Graves Avenue has not yet been determined, but city officials say they will seek FEMA funds to cover as much as 87.5 percent of the cost.
Another thoroughfare, one that intersects East Graves Avenue, is Monastery Road. Monastery Road sustained heavy damage from Milton, Peters noted.
“We had two sections about 200 feet apart that washed out completely,” he added.
Orange City is contracting with Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., a well-known engineering firm that has offices in Orlando, for the design of the repairs of Monastery Road. The City Council Dec. 10 approved the payment of $109,997.32 to Kimley-Horn for the design and engineering.
Peters said the road, or at least a large portion of it, must be completely rebuilt because of base failure. Base failure means the roadbed beneath the pavement was damaged by standing water and must be replaced with new subsurface materials.
A road in Orange CIty’s prime business district remains closed as a result of Hurricane Milton’s washout effects. Threadgill Road is barricaded on both sides of the washout. Customers of Lowe’s and nearby restaurants, however, may still use part of Threadgill to patronize those businesses. As with other storm-damaged Orange City roads, how soon Threadgill will be repaired and reopened, and at what cost, are unknown.
“Professional surveying and mapping services, as well as Subsurface Utility Engineering Services,” are listed as needs in a letter to L & S Diversified, an Orlando surveying firm.
In any event, Peters said Monastery Road will not be reopened for travel for at least a few months.
“Our goal is to have it done by late spring or early summer,” he added.
As with Graves Avenue, the expense of replacing the damaged Monastery Road is not now fully known. Peters, however, estimated the cost of rebuilding a mile of the road at $1 million.
A third byway in Orange City that remains closed is Threadgill Road, which connects Saxon and Harley Strickland boulevards. Threadgill sustained the loss of more than 100 feet of roadway as a result of Milton’s rains. At this writing, barricades are still in place to prevent drivers from damaging their vehicles.
The cost of restoring Threadgill has yet to be determined.
