ORLANDO, Fla. — Problems parking in Ivanhoe Village may be eased if a Florida Department of Transportation project moves forward.

“(Orange Avenue) is busy all day, every day. Lots of cars come down, lots of people. It’s a very popular place at night as well, it gets very hectic down here,” said Doug Stein, general manager at Ski World Orlando in Ivanhoe Village.

From the store window, Stein gets a front-row seat to speeding on Orange Avenue.

“We see a lot of cars flying down across the road,” he said.

But it’s going to get slower on Orange Avenue if FDOT gets its way.

The state is planning what it calls "operational improvements" on Orange Avenue, from Magnolia Avenue to north of Rollins Street.

One of the biggest changes will come between Magnolia Avenue and Ivanhoe Boulevard, where FDOT plans to convert the outside lanes into on-street parking.

Parking is the biggest problem for Stein and Ski World.

“It ends up hurting our business because people don’t want to come down here if they can’t find parking,” he said. “Especially if you’ve got a family with kids. Things like that just make it more difficult to get in here, so we’re excited for some more parking and hopefully making it a more accessible area for everybody else.”

An FDOT study found reducing Orange Avenue to one way each way will have a minimal impact to traffic flow.

“Going down to one lane will force people to stay behind the car in front of them and move at a more reasonable pace, hopefully keeping everybody a little bit more safe,” Stein said.

The FDOT plan also calls for raised crosswalks and raised intersections to keep pedestrians safe and slow down drivers.

FDOT is still in the design phase for the project.

Construction is funded for early 2024 at $2.9 million.