US 27 to Florida Turnpike East Ramps: SR 50 is a key east-west regional arterial linking communities in Lake County and Orange County, as such it serves a high level of commuter traffic. In the next year, SR 50 will be widened to include six travel lanes from western Orange County to Lake County to US 27. Despite this widening, traffic projections indicate that the roadway will be over capacity well before the 20-year design life of the corridor. Careful planning of future infrastructure and land use is needed to create a vision for the future of the corridor as well as the necessary policy and legislative steps to achieving that vision. The development of this plan will require a close collaboration between the state, Lake County, Orange County, the MPOs and affected cities.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (ECFRPC) and a team of consultants will start working together at the upcoming month in a study that will deliver a plan that should provide the development community with information regarding desirable land use and transportation alternatives as well as cost sharing opportunities. By utilizing GIS analysis and processes, the ECFRPC team will kick-off the project development by collecting, analyzing, and then delivering information about the current land use inventory, parcel underutilization analysis, and also a current allowable Build-out analysis based on existent Floor Area Rations (FAR). The findings of this project’s first phase will be then handed to the FDOT and the other team mates that will then proceed with the other plan development aspects. For more information about the SR 50 Study contact the ECFRPC team at http://www.ecfrpc.org/Contact-Us.aspx.