While downtown Kissimmee’s Broadway might be getting a “diet”, local businesses along the stretch hope changing the street from four lanes to two will fatten their wallets.
It’s all part of the “Connect Kissimmee” plan, first presented a year ago and approved by commissioners in January. City Engineer David Gomez gave commissioners an update at their May 6 meeting with the plan to reduce the street to two lanes.
City officials and downtown business owners have wrestled with the topic of slimming Broadway for years. Pros are that it would slow down traffic and eliminate some that use it as a “cut through”, but a negative has been how a two-lane road with the same grass median it has now could hamper emergency vehicles responding in the area.
Talks with FDOT, who is cofunding the $16 million plan with the city, are ongoing, and the final design of the first phase, from Stewart/Ruby Avenue—where a traffic roundabout is planned in front of the Kissimmee Police Department—to Neptune Road, is being finalized. Vine Street to Neptune and John Young Parkway to Stewart (the Emmett Street portion) are lumped together as the second phase.
A two-lane Broadway would have the same width as the current four-lane configuration. It would afford more space for on-street parking and wider sidewalks. Gomez noted the “road diet” would occur at the same time as the rest of other work in order to keep the project cost the same, but would delay the start from December 2025 to August 2026. The first phase would still be complete about the same time, the summer of 2028, which would coordinate with the start of the second phase.
City Manager Mike Steigerwald noted that, by doing the road diet at the same time, the city can afford to brick the entirety of Broadway and resurface cross streets in the main downtown corridor like Dakin, Monument, Darlington and Stewart avenues.
The idea behind the plan, originally unveiled to downtown stakeholders in September 2024, is to transform the stretch from John Young Parkway to Neptune Road and give it an identity, while enhancing the “curb appeal” for downtown businesses and enhance the safety for pedestrians.
It includes table-topped intersections from Magnolia Steet to Clyde Avenue, intended to slow traffic for safety concerns. (On March 31, the city proactively reduced the speed limit on Main/Broadway/ Emmett to 25 mph.) Those table tops, which serve to slow traffic to help walkers and bikers be more safe, will feature brick pavers to enhance the look.
The entire stretch would be a “Complete Streets” project, which would include widened and resurfaced sidewalks and slightly narrowing vehicle travel lanes to better accommodate bicycle lanes, especially on the Emmett Street (Ruby to John Young) portion.
Commissioners voiced their concerns at the May 6 meeting. Carlos Alvarez wondered aloud about the impact on businesses, as well as potential construction of prospective hotel projects at the Civic Center and Toho Square. Steigerwald said a communications person will be assigned to update local businesses and residents, and traffic heading toward John Young Parkway will be encouraged to use Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Angela Eady’s concern about the Festival of Lights.
“We can’t not have a Christmas parade,” she said.
Gomez said work can be moved and paused to work around that and events like Boo on Broadway.
