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Osceola News-Gazette
Osceola County traffic is bad.
Just ask the 650 people who recently joined a new Facebook group dedicated to the issue.
One new member on Wednesday posted that it takes her 90 minutes to go 14 miles from her home in Poinciana to her job in downtown Kissimmee, and another 90 minutes to get back after work.
“This is every morning and afternoon. This is about three hours of my day each day sitting in a vehicle because of traffic,” Duannieh Cruz wrote on the Osceola Traffic page.
Cruz’s story is common, and the problem is widespread and is only getting worse as development continues bringing more people and more cars to the area.
From 2010 to 2018, Osceola County grew by 37 percent and gained about 99,000 new residents. And with thousands of more homes under construction, traffic isn’t expected to ease up anytime soon.
But congested roads aren’t just annoying, they’re dangerous and they’re costly, said Monique Costantino, who created the Facebook page last Sunday.
She was moved to act a few months ago, after she witnessed a car get T-boned at the intersection of Canoe Creek and Old Canoe Creek roads.
“It was such a violent, horrible accident,” said Costantino, who stopped to help and called 911.
“The woman was screaming the whole time. They had to use the Jaws of Life to get her out,” she said. “That’s when I knew something had to be done.”
The financial analyst decided to start crunching numbers after running late for work one day because of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“I was sitting there and realized that it was costing me money. Then I thought: ‘How much is this costing all these people?’” she said.
Using data from Osceola County, the city of St. Cloud and the transportation analytics company INRIX, Costantino was able to put a price tag on traffic.
She said it costs St. Cloud residents about $13.90 per hour to sit in traffic, considering factors such as lost wages, car repairs and fuel.
She and many members of the Osceola Traffic group on Facebook say the county should stop allowing new development that doesn’t sufficiently provide for roads and other infrastructure.
“The roads are so horrendous. The traffic is so horrendous. It’s only getting worse,” she said.
The County Commission two weeks ago voted to refinance Osceola Parkway to generate $200 million to improve Boggy Creek, Simpson and Partin Settlement roads and Bill Beck and Poinciana boulevards.
But it only solves part of the problem considering there is a $1.1 billion backlog of needed transportation improvements and a “deficit of traditional funding to fix the problem,” according to the county.
Osceola County voters in May rejected a county proposal to increase the local sales tax by a penny for countywide road improvements. Nearly two out of three voters opposed raising the local sales tax from 7.5 to 8.5 percent, which would have generated $2 billion over a 30-year period.
Costantino said the county shouldn’t approve any more new homes until developers pay more robust impact and mobility fees, which go to improving and expanding roads, schools, parks and other infrastructure affected by new development.
The County Commission “must assign the true cost of development. They have to see that right now the cost is to the people,” she said.
Costantino and other members of the Osceola Traffic group plan to speak at Monday’s County Commission meeting during the time allotted for public comments.
