State agency to improve busy intersection

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State agency to improve busy intersection
BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON; WHERE TWO STATE HIGHWAYS CROSS — Looking northward, the intersection of State Road 44 and SR 15A can be a busy place. The Florida Department of Transportation aims to make the intersection less congested, but the work is not slated to begin for about two years.

The Florida Department of Transportation is working on a plan to make getting through a major crossing on DeLand’s west side somewhat easier. 

That is the good news. The bad news is that the project is at least two years away from starting.

The crossing of two state thoroughfares, State Road 44 — also known in DeLand as New York Avenue — and State Road 15A can become a choke point for traffic at times, but planners are working on a fix. SR 15A is also known as Spring Garden Avenue.

“It’s in design right now,” FDOT spokesman Timothy Freed told The Beacon. “It looks like the project has a letting for June 1, 2027.”

Freed noted that the FDOT has given a Tampa engineering firm, SRD Inc., a $1.4 million contract to design the improvements at the intersection. The cost of construction, once it begins, is now estimated at $2 million.

“The project will add a southbound right turn lane on Spring Garden Avenue to westbound New York Avenue,” explains a FDOT summary, with a graphic, on the proposal.

The FDOT may have to acquire some right of way on the corner of the intersection for the turn lane. The cost of the property needed for the new turn lane is now estimated at $4.3 million.

GRAPHIC COURTESY FDOT

From the 2022 travel statistics compiled by the FDOT and incorporated into Volusia County’s average daily traffic counts, the volumes of traffic for all four directions of the crossing of the state highways are as follows:

SR 15A, between West Beresford Avenue and West New York Avenue, 27,500 vehicles 

SR 15A, between West New York Avenue and West Plymouth Avenue, 24,000 vehicles

SR 44, between SR 15A and Stone Street, 11,700 vehicles

SR 44, between Hazen Road and SR 15A, 14,600 vehicles

2022 is the most recent year for which the traffic counts are available.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Are they looking into the intersection of Hwy 17/92 and Orange Camp Road? The traffic backup for westbound Orange Camp turning south onto 17/92 is completely out of control most days.

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