Here’s good news for those who use Church Street in Kissimmee, particularly to go east toward Neptune Road: the project to fix parking, drainage and accessibility is slated to be completed on-time in mid-September.
Work began in March to take care of a couple issues, namely replacing the often-confusing back-in diagonal parking installed in 2017. They’re being replaced with pull-in spots. New curbs and wider sidewalks with better ramp features to adhere to ADA standards have been put in place. And the city worked with KUA and Toho Water respectively to replace the streetlights and sewer lines for better evening lightning and drainage.
“The project has gone smoothly, with no delays,” city Engineer Victor Aponte said. “It’s going to end up a six-month project.”
Church Street is normally the alternative downtown thoroughfare to Broadway, and used as an east-west way through town when Broadway is closed for special events. It also serves as the “front porch” for City Hall.
“It was time to go over Church Street,” Kissimmee Public Information Specialist Justin Hetu said. “We’ve paid so much attention to the Lakefront, it was time to expand out. We wanted to extend the downtown design cues to Church Street.”
The street will get a final paving before completion. Work to scrub the top layer of asphalt for paving has revealed some of the original bricks used to pave the street many years ago.
While work’s been going on, Church Street, has been one-way westbound. As work wraps up, it is closed from Main Street to Neptune. But the regular traffic flow, with pull-in parking on the north, or City Hall, side of the street from Sproule to Stewart Street.
“The end result is a more functional Church Street,” Hetu said. “And, it’s prettier.”
