Colonial Drive beautification project continues in Ocoee

If you’ve driven on State Road 50 in Ocoee lately, you’ve probably noticed the road’s medians are more aesthetically pleasing.

The upgrade is the result of a deal between the city of Ocoee, Ocoee Community Redevelopment Agency and the Florida Department of Transportation — with the FDOT funding $775,000 to go toward landscaping.

The funding came after an application was sent in by the city and approved by the DOT, said Ginger Corless, deputy development services director and CRA administrator for the city of Ocoee.

“The City Commission, as well as the Ocoee Community Redevelopment Agency — under the direction of the city manager’s office — really directed that we try to get as much as we can,” Corless said. “It’s almost three miles of median to landscape to improve the overall aesthetics of the corridor, as well as it serves to do some traffic calming for that section of roadway.”

Overall, the cost for landscaping and irrigation systems for the three miles of median totals $1.2 million.

Most recently, Phase 1 — which includes the stretch of S.R. 50 between S.R. 429 and Economic Court — was completed. That stretch now features a number of palm trees, magnolias, crape myrtles, shrubs and ground cover.

The project also includes an irrigation system to keep plants thriving.

With help from the city’s utilities department, a system is being put into place that will offer better water-saving abilities, Corless said.

“The irrigation system is being done in a hydra-system, which means it’s basically three different systems — you have a system that does the turf, you have one that does the shrubs and ground cover, and you have another one that is a bubbler for the trees,” Corless said. “Therefore, each zone is being timed appropriately for the plant material.”

Phase 2 of the project — between Economic Court and Kelton Avenue — is underway and expected to be completed this week. Phases 3 and 4 will be done by May and June, respectively.

Once everything is complete, the contractor will cover maintenance costs for one year before handing over duties to the city.

Separate from this project, the city is upgrading medians on South Maguire Road.

Eight medians on Maguire — south of Florida’s Turnpike and down to the city limit lines with Windermere — will be overhauled and upgraded. The project — which will cost $205,000 — is expected to be done by early June.

“That basically gets rid of old plants and (puts) in new soil,” Corless said. “Every time we are going to do a median, we’re going to excavate and put in new potting soils, planting mixes and PH test it so that we actually set up the plants to live and not to fail.”