Intersection improvements to Fullers Cross, East Crown Point delayed

Motorists who frequently cross the intersection of East Fullers Cross Road and East Crown Point Road were promised that road improvements were coming soon to the stressed intersection.

However, more than a year has passed, leading area residents to wonder what happened to the city’s plans to add a traffic light, a left-turn lane on E. Crown Point Road, and both right and left-turn lanes on E. Fullers Cross Road. 

The intersection currently supports car traffic from several residential developments and schools, including Hope Charter School and Ocoee High School. But soon it will need to support more traffic from the incoming 191 single-family homes being built at McAllistair Landing at the western end of East Fullers Cross Road and the light-industrial development under construction in Ocoee on East Crown Point Road and Palm Drive — known as The Park at 429.

Winter Garden resident Dexter Blois said navigating the intersection is nearly impossible with all the congestion that plagues the intersection during rush hour.

“There wasn’t much traffic before, but now there is with all the development that exists along East Fullers Cross Road and the development coming to the road,” Blois said. “There’s a development coming in with about 190 houses at what we call Dead Man’s Curve — they just started building the houses. When those houses empty out and they want to go to work or get to the 429, or Ocoee, Apopka, Orlando — that’s the outlet.”

Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said city staff hit a snag during the process.

“The hold-up is from one property owner who has not been cooperating with us with the purchase of the right-of-way,” Bollhoefer said. “We’ve been trying to negotiate with that one property owner who won’t sell us the property. So we’re going to have to eminent domain it. We just instructed our attorneys to draft the resolution. At the next meeting, we should have the resolution and start the process of eminent domain.”

If the city commission approves the resolution, Bollhoefer expects to start construction within six months, he said.

“With eminent domain, it’ll probably be about three months before we can get the land and then go right into construction, he said. “I would say that if everything goes perfectly, and we’re able to hire a contractor, we can probably start construction in about six months. … But we’ve had it designed for quite some time — we’ve been trying to do this for over a year. We don’t like to use eminent domain — it’s a last resort.”