The Florida Department of Transportation, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, welcomes you to the Design Public Information Meeting for the Seminole Expressway State Road 417 Widening project, from south of Aloma Avenue, or State Road 426, to North of State Road 434, in Seminole County. Thank you for your interest in the project.

The project is located in Seminole County, Florida along the Seminole Expressway, or State Road 417. It begins south of Aloma Avenue, or State Road 426, at the Seminole County Line and continues for approximately 6.6 miles northward to just north of State Road 434 in the City of Winter Springs.

The adjacent land uses are comprised of residential, commercial, recreational, and institutional. Two recreational trails cross the project corridor, those being the North and South Cross Seminole Trail. State Road 417 will be widened by adding two northbound and two southbound lanes.

Three existing interchanges along the project corridor will also be improved including Aloma Avenue, Red Bug Lake Road, and State Road 434.

This project is following the Design-Build Project Development Process. This process includes five phases, as shown, beginning with 1) Planning, 2) Project Development and Environment Study, 3) Conceptual Design, 4) Procurement of Design-Build Team, and finally 5) Final Design and Construction.

Our project team is currently working to complete Phase 3 or Conceptual Design.

During Phase 3, our project team will be working to develop the Request for Proposal documents and the conceptual design plans, reevaluate the original Project Development and Environment Study, and obtain the necessary environmental permits.

Phase 4 will use the information developed in Phase 3 to Select a Design-Build Team. Once a Design-Build Team has been selected by FTE, Final Design and Construction will be completed concurrently, thereby completing Phase 5.

The project objective, as identified in the original State Environmental Impact Report, is to improve overall safety, enhance mobility, and accommodate projected traffic demand for 2045.

The existing mainline configuration consists of two 12-foot lanes, a 10-foot outside shoulder, and an 8-foot inside shoulder in both the northbound and southbound directions. There is a guardrail adjacent to the southbound inside lane, as well as a 64-foot grassed median.

The proposed Turnpike mainline configuration consists of four 12 -foot lanes, a 12-foot outside shoulder, and a 12-foot inside shoulder in both the northbound and southbound directions. Most of the widening is occurring along the inside lanes, with only five feet of widening along the outside lanes.

The improvements to the Aloma Avenue Interchange that will be necessary to adequately accommodate the mainline improvements include:

• Replacement of existing expressway bridges over Aloma Avenue, shown in blue.
• Two additional right turn lanes along the southbound off-ramp, resulting in a total of three right turn lanes.
• An additional left turn lane along the northbound off-ramp, resulting in a total of three left turn lanes.
• An additional eastbound right turn lane along the southbound on ramp, which creates a total of two right turn lanes.
• Pedestrian and bicycle accommodations including:
  • Eight-foot pedestrian sidewalks on each side, shown in white.
• Five-foot bicycle lanes which are separated from the travel lane by a two-foot buffer, shown in green.
• An additional westbound thru lane along Aloma Avenue, for a total of three thru lanes.
• And, an additional eastbound left turn lane along Aloma Avenue, for a total of two left turn lanes.

This is an eastward -looking graphical representation of the improvements to the Aloma Avenue Interchange once the project is completed.

The improvements to the Red Bug Lake Road Interchange that will be necessary to adequately accommodate the mainline improvements include:

• Modification of existing expressway bridge, shown in blue.
• An additional right turn lane along the northbound off ramp, resulting in a total of two right turn lanes.
• And, an additional eastbound left turn lane from Red Bug Lake Road to northbound Seminole Expressway, for a total of two left turn lanes.

This is a westward -looking graphical representation of the improvements to the Red Bug Lake Road Interchange once the project is completed.

The improvements to the State Road 434 Interchange that will be necessary to adequately accommodate the mainline improvements include:

• Modification of existing expressway bridge, shown in blue.
• An additional left turn lane along the southbound off ramp, for a total of two left turn lanes,and an additional right turn lane, for a total of two right turn lanes.
• And, an additional eastbound left turn lane from State Road 434 to the Seminole Expressway, leading to a total of two left turn lanes.

This is a westward -looking graphical representation of the improvements to the State Road 434 Interchange once the project is completed.

Although the primary roadway improvements will consist of increasing the number of travel lanes along the mainline from four to eight lanes, there will be several concurrent improvements.

Additional improvements will include enhancements to existing stormwater ponds, upgrades to the Intelligent Transportation System such as wrong way detection systems, construction of noise walls in areas according to FDOT criteria, installation of roadway lighting, enhancements to roadside safety features, and constructing, widening and/or replacement of mainline bridges.

The Turnpike strives to provide an aesthetically appealing roadway. Therefore, we use aesthetics guidelines that provide consistency in our projects. On this slide are a few examples of the aesthetic treatments that we anticipate using on the projects’ bridges, retaining walls, and noise walls.

The current project schedule includes this Design-Build Public Information Meeting and the advertisement of a Design-Build project in the first quarter of 2023. There will be approximately one year of procurement and later Design and Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Noise assessment must follow FDOT’s policy, which is based on federal and state regulations. All subdivisions are treated to the same criteria. Only future noise is considered, existing or construction noise is not considered. Noise walls must meet acoustic criteria to be feasible and reasonable including cost-benefit requirements. Not all communities meet the FDOT criteria. For more information regarding the noise wall evaluation process and approach, please visit the project website shown on the slide for the Turnpike’s Traffic Noise Video.

Your comments are essential to this process and will help Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise understand your concerns and suggestions for improvements. We encourage you to provide a written comment tonight.  Or, if you prefer, you may mail your comments or submit by email. All contact information is also included in the project handout. You can also submit your comments directly through the project website. The website address is www.SeminoleEXPYAloma434.com.  We would appreciate your written comments by September 12, 2022.  

This project is being developed in accordance with The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under Title SIX of The Civil Rights Act, public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Laura Duran at 407-264-3106 or Jacqueline Paramore at 850-414-4753.

You are encouraged to contact one of the project representatives with project-related questions using your preferred contact method. Their contact information is available on the project website at www.SeminoleEXPYAloma434.com.

Thank you for your interest in Seminole Expressway State Road 417 Widening project, from south of Aloma Avenue, or State Road 426, to North of State Road 434, in Seminole County and thank you for taking time to participate in this meeting.