OVIEDO, Fla. — An Oviedo community is expressing frustration over the growing dangers of simply using their exit.
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Traffic Expert Ryan Harper spoke with Dennis Cirrotti who lives in the Tuska Ridge community near the Oviedo Mall. He says limited median space is causing numerous wrecks due to arriving and departing traffic trying to occupy this small space at the same time. He thinks he has a solution but Seminole County already has a response.
Dennis Cirrotti and his wife have lived in Oviedo for the past 25 years.
"We've seen incredible growth."
That growth means that Red Bug Lake Road, just outside the Tuska Ridge community has seen a change in that time as well.
"We've seen Red Bug go from two lanes to three lanes...and now six lanes," Cirrotti said.
Cirrotti says those changes have affected the way he can exit. He now says that left turn from Hollow Pine Drive onto Red Bug Lake Road is now just a haven for wrecks.
Seminole County told Spectrum News 13 that they counted 11 wrecks that occurred there in the past three years.
Cirrotti either wants a traffic signal installed, but he would rather see the timing of the lights synced at Dovera Drive and Slavia Road. Both are located just east and west of the Tuska Ridge entrance. That way, Cirrotti says, both would have a red light at the same time, making it much easier to turn.
Seminole County told Harper that the distance between the two signals is too great to artificially cycle those signals to create gaps. And there are no plans to install a traffic light.
While Seminole County has put certain options off the table like a new traffic signal at the intersection or improving the traffic timing at both Slavia Road and Dovera Drive, it has assured us that it will at least look into making some modifications to the median on that left-hand turn side and making improvements to the area's line of sight as well.
Cirrotti told us that that left turn has scared people away from buying in his community. And he says the turn's dangers come from a mixture of a small median and growing area congestion.
"I don't think it's increased to the point of where they anticipated it, but it has," he said.
Thanks for your question, Dennis! And if you at home have a traffic question or problem that you want looked at or solved, head to mynews13.com/trafficinbox and fill out the simple form.