As a new stretch
of Wekiva Parkway opens, concern over drivers speeding through Mount Plymouth remains.
As the Central Florida Expressway Authority cuts the ribbon today on the newest section of the Wekiva Parkway, Lake County leaders are keeping a close eye on traffic speeding through Mount Plymouth near the Lake-Orange line.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office set up electronic billboards last week on County Road 435 that flash “40 m.p.h.” — a reminder of the often-ignored speed limit on the curvy, two-lane road that weaves through Mount Plymouth, an unincorporated community with about 4,000 residents.
“They’re all Mario Andrettis going around through here,” Mary St. Claire, 60, whose gingerbread-style home sits on the side of a sharp bend, said Friday.
After Lake commissioners failed to persuade expressway officials last year to make permanent a temporary Wekiva Parkway interchange at C.R. 435 in the hopes that it would reduce traffic speeding through the community, they switched to a “plan B.” Commissioners asked the state Department of Transportation for $1 million in financial assistance to “plan, design and construct” road improvements on C.R. 435 and nearby State Road 46.
Transportation District Secretary Mike Shannon turned them down, pointing out in a letter that the county road “is an off-system roadway not affiliated with the state highway system.” He suggested they coordinate with the Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization to request funding for their plan.
The ramps of the temporary interchange at C.R. 435 will shut down permanently today.
Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione said she fears the ramp closures will encourage Apopka residents to take C.R. 435 instead of the new section of the beltway as their primary route to S.R. 46 and other easterly destinations, which include the University of Central Florida, the Seminole Towne Center in Sanford and Lake Mary’s employment district.
She said the county is studying “traffic calming” designs and roundabouts to control and deter speeders on east Lake’s roads, especially those in residential Mount Plymouth, whose now-defunct golf course and pastoral settings once lured baseball legend Babe Ruth, “God Bless America” singer Kate Smith and Chicagoland mobster Al Capone to vacation there many decades ago.
Though concerned about Mount Plymouth, Campione — who is among the region’s dignitaries invited to speak at today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony — said she plans to
praise the opening of the new stretch of elevated highway. The section will extend from Kelly Park Road beyond the Orange-Lake county line to S.R. 46 and includes a spur called State Road 453 that leads to Mount Dora’s eastern boundary.
“It will provide convenience for Lake County residents and opportunities for economic prosperity,” she said.
The new segment completes the expressway authority’s building responsibility on the 25-mile arc of toll road known as the Wekiva Parkway because it will cross the Wekiva River and complete a beltway around metropolitan Orlando. The state Department of Transportation is in charge of the last 12 miles.
Mary Brooks, spokeswoman for the construction efforts on State Road 429 and the Wekiva Parkway, said the 5-mile segment that opened last summer between U.S. Highway 441 and Kelly Park Road carries about 11,000 cars on weekdays, well above the anticipated load of 6,300 cars.
The toll road’s volume has helped ease congestion on local roads in northwest Orange.