Four traffic signals will be replaced in short order, thanks to a Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) grant of $1,389,840 to Osceola County.
In total, 14 signals will be replaced that will provide protection from winds up to 150 mph during future storms.
County spokesperson Mark Pino said funding was requested for a total of 47 signal structures at those 14 intersections.
“They were installed between 15 and 34 years ago and are at the end of their serviceable lifespan and are in varying states of disrepair,” he said. “The structural integrity of these signals ranges from extensive rust and corrosion to light surface rust with significant wire deterioration on the wire span assemblies. All are currently rated to withstand a maximum 120 mile per hour wind, well below today’s 150 miles per hour standard, and the new metal mast arm assemblies will meet that 150 threshold.
The first four intersections that will be replaced, as ranked in order of priority, are:
Celebration Avenue and Celebration Place;
Celebration Boulevard at Celebration Avenue;
Celebration Place at Celebration Avenue;
Cypress Parkway at Doverplum Avenue.
“We are excited to receive this grant money, and look forward to working with our partners at FEMA to further strengthen our transportation infrastructure here in Osceola County,” said Tawny Olore, P.E., Executive Director of Osceola County’s Transportation and Transit Department.
Funding from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) was approved in response to a proposal by the county after 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, which would have brought devastating winds to the area had it followed its early projections of a Central Florida landfall. A 2018 report by the National Institute of Building Sciences found that one dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves more than six dollars of recovery and rebuilding costs.
Information from Osceola County and FEMA was used in this report.
