Getting around Walt Disney World during peak season can be difficult. With the ongoing expansion of Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, Disney is thinking ahead and making plans to offset some of the anticipated congestion in these areas with four major road projects. Here is what we know from the Orlando Sentinel.
Work on four major road projects atWalt Disney World– including an overpass over the Magic Kingdom parking toll plaza – should be complete by 2018.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District on Wednesday approved a $335 million package for the projects and provided a timelime.
A flyover bridge taking World Drive hotel traffic over the Magic Kingdom’s toll plaza should be complete by the second half of 2018.
A reconfiguration of Osceola Parkway at Victory Way, southeast of Disney’s Hollywood Studios and north of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, should be finished by the end of 2018. A traditional intersection will be replaced with a flyover design similar to that at state roads 50 and 436 near Orlando. The flyover will take Osceola Parkway traffic over Victory Way.
A new roadway link from Reams Road to Floridian Way should be finished in early 2018.
An extension of Western Way from the Flamingo Crossings development to Avalon Road, or County Road 545, should be done by mid-2018. Part of that road will be raised in the middle to accommodate pedestrians to walk underneath when the area is developed. “We don’t know what will be developed there,” said Kathryn Kolbo, manager of planning and engineering at Reedy Creek, but the district wants to prepare. The raised area will be over what she described as an “island” in the middle of wetland areas.
Also on Wednesday, Reedy Creek approved a $12.3 million contract with Southland Construction Inc. for improvements to an interchange at Osceola Parkway and World Drive. A cloverleaf design will be completed and the existing signalized left turn to northbound World Drive will be removed.
Reedy Creek also approved a $93,780 project to monitor traffic along four intersections in the Buena Vista Drive corridor and time stoplights accordingly.
The roadwork is happening as Disney World prepares for growth including a major expansion of Hollywood Studios, located northeast of the World Drive and Osceola Parkway intersection.
What part of the expansion are you most looking forward to?
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