As part of the City or Orlando’s participation in the 2017 Safe Streets Academy, a program funded by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition, and the City’s growing interest to strengthen policies and the application of Complete Streets, the City partnered with Orange County to implement a demonstration project to showcase possible street improvements that increase multimodal safety and connectivity.

The goal for was to implement a demonstration project along Curry Ford Road between Bumby Avenue and Crystal Lake Drive in the City of Orlando. The showcased improvements through this demonstration were planned to increase safety, lower driving speeds, better accommodate pedestrians and cyclists along the corridor, and encourage driving behavior that is acceptable to neighbors and sensitive to its context.

Fabian led this project while employed with Kittelson & Associates. The project team worked with City of Orlando staff to develop a concept plan and permit package for the implementation of the demonstration project. The final plan, which has been implemented and opened to the public, redesigned a half mile segment of a five-lane arterial into a narrower, safer street, introducing protected bike lanes along both sides of the street, and a mid-block crossing island with median refuge for pedestrians, in order to provide an additional safe crossing opportunity along this busy street.

Objectives for this project included: Showcasing a street redesign that created a safer and more comfortable environment for all street users and is also business friendly; Creating an opportunity to engage the community as part of a learning/test process with hopes that it served as a model that could be replicated in other areas; Building a stronger relationship with Orange County and other partner agencies in order to achieve common goals.

Project Summary Infographic: HERE

Orlando's Safe Streets Academy demonstration project had the following media coverage:

Bike/Walk Central Florida

Smart Growth America

"Results are in from the Curry Ford road diet demonstration" - Bungalower

"Road Alert: What's up with Curry Ford" - Bungalower

This project was also featured as a case study in the Smart Growth America Publication