8/28/2015 – How do we fix McCulloch and N. Tanner and help Hwy 50? The Richard Crotty Parkway!

We start with the Richard Crotty Parkway!  This has to be the first step.  It is all about connectivity and getting the east connected to the west.

What is the Richard Crotty Parkway?  It is a proposed East-West roadway on the Long Range Transportation Plan that starts at 436 and runs all the way to N. Tanner.  It is not a direct route.  It begins at 436 and runs along Hanging Moss Road which is halfway between Hwy 50 and University Blvd on 436.  It sort of winds its way over to Goldenrod Road and then follows a right-of-way that takes it along the Blanchard Park Trial to Dean Road.  It goes up Dean Road to Buck Road.  It follows Buck Road and then goes through to Research Parkway.

It follows Research Parkway through Research Park and here is where it gets interesting and why it is important to us in East Orange County.  It extends Research Parkway over to N. Tanner Road providing  another East-West conduit for traffic.  This extension would bring instant relief to N. Tanner and McCulloch Road and also help Hwy 50 as drivers who live around Bonneville could take this road over to Alafaya Trail.

I am going to focus specifically on the section of Richard Crotty from the end of Research Parkway to N. Tanner as it is where we get the best bang for the buck in East Orange County.  This is the red line on the map below.

To anyone that travels McCulloch and N. Tanner, I think it is very easy to see what the effect this road would have on traffic.  I would expect a very large percentage of the cars that would normally travel to McCulloch would take this option instead thus relieving congestion on N. Tanner and McCulloch.  This also provides a entrance to UCF and Research Park as well as easy access to Alafaya and University Blvd.  It seems like a no brainer, right?

In addition to this, there is already a utility easement as straight as an arrow that goes down the entire length of this one mile section so there are no houses that are in the way.  A one mile section of two lane road would cost about 3-4 million and four lanes would cost about 8 million.  No bridges, no right-of-way issues, just a straight road to N. Tanner.  Sounds great, right!

 

Not so fast.  We have issues.

Money is one of them.  When the Richard Crotty Parkway was put on the Long Range Transportation Plan it was before the recession.  When the recession hit, money became scarce and the parkway just sat on the plan unfunded.  It is still unfunded  Perhaps this portion of it can be accelerated through the “Invest” program.

But the big stumbling block is who owns the right of way.  I have heard that UCF owns the utility easement and Research Park maintains Research Parkway so the county cannot just move ahead and put in the road.  Research Park does not want this road to go through because it would increase through traffic in Research Park.  UCF has been silent on the issue.  While it is understandable that Research Park does not want pass through traffic, the traffic we have now is at a point where another East-West connecting road is sorely needed and this need will only increase.  It is just a matter of time before this road will have to be built to move traffic.  We all know that when the UCF Fall semester started, traffic on N. Tanner and McCulloch tripled and we have all seen or heard about more accidents.  I viewed one myself just west of the University Estates entrance a few days ago.  It is only fair that UCF and Research Park whose traffic contributes to the problem we have take part in the solution.

My personal feeling is this road will most definitely increase traffic on Research Parkway but I also feel the good news for Research Park is it will relieve cut through traffic on Discovery Drive by allowing cars that would otherwise use Discovery Drive to move through this new road and onto Bonneville Road and N. Tanner.

I believe it is time UCF, Research Park and Orange County come to an agreement on this road.    It is inevitable that this road will be built sometime in the future, why wait until it is way to late and do it now when we need it the most?