The City of Orlando wants to make it safer for pedestrians to get around downtown Orlando by connecting two urban trails.

  • Orlando, FDOT working to improve pedestrian safety
  • Pedestrian bridge over Colonial Drive to connect trails
  • Project should be done by late 2018, cost $9 million

The city wants to connect the Orlando Urban Trail and Gertrude’s Walk, which currently ends at Washington Street. To do this, a couple of things need to happen.

First, Gertrude’s Walk needs to be expanded to reach north to Colonial Drive. That is in the works.

The big connective piece of the puzzle, though, will be a pedestrian bridge that flies over Colonial Drive, connecting the two trails.

As it stands, Colonial Drive in downtown Orlando is one of the city's busiest roadways. And it's not pedestrian-friendly. That’s why the Florida Department of Transportation and the City of Orlando got together to prioritize pedestrian safety along Colonial Drive.

As part of this priority, an overpass is scheduled to be built across West Colonial Drive to connect Gertrude’s Walk to the Orlando Urban Trail. In fact, initial construction has already begun.

The project is east of Interstate 4, west of Orange Avenue, and crosses Colonial Drive until touch down about 340 feet south of Colonial Drive.

With the bridge completed, the city hopes to better connect people to neighborhoods, businesses and the SunRail transit system.

The road work is currently in the first phase and includes pile-driving, which involves hammering large poles into the ground to support the bridge. Officials are warning that this will be a loud process.

Work will take place during the day Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and occasionally Saturdays. This first phase of construction is expected to last approximately five weeks, but no closures are expected to accompany the construction.

The bridge will cost about $9 million to complete and is expected be done by the fall of 2018.


News 13 has partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation on its “Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow” campaign. The idea is to make sure we’re all sharing the road with people who walk or ride their bikes, and everyone makes it where they need to be safely. FDOT has all kinds of resources for you on alerttodayflorida.com.