Lake Highland Drive/Alden Road Realignment and Utility Project

Last updated on May 27, 2022

Phase 1 of the Lake Highland Drive/Alden Road Realignment

The City of Orlando Public Works Department is pursuing a utility project in conjunction with OUC water and electric, to replace aging potable and raw water lines with new, upsized piping, run new underground high voltage power lines to serve future downtown growth, construct a new sanitary force main and replace or rehabilitate gravity sewer mains and lateral service lines between Orange Avenue and Bumby Avenue.  

The utility project route will pass through the Lake Highland area, running under Lake Highland Drive from Thornton Avenue to Highland Avenue and under a future section of Alden Road from Highland Avenue to Magnolia Avenue. This portion of the utility project overlaps with the Transportation Department’s planned design and realignment of Lake Highland Drive and extension of Alden Road.

The restoration of the street following the utility project presents an opportunity to build off the concepts developed as part of the Virginia & Lake Highland Transportation and Land Use Study, to improve the streetscape appearance of Lake Highland Drive between the SunRail corridor and Mills Avenue and add traffic calming measures to discourage cut through traffic. Lake Highland Drive from Ferris to Mills will be restored as a brick street as part of the project. 

The utility project also creates an opportunity to implement the next phase in a decades-old plan to improve the Alden Road corridor as a parallel path to Orange Avenue. The extension of Alden Road is a desirable and needed street network modification that will provide better connectivity between downtown Orlando and the growing AdventHealth campus.

The utility project is needed to replace and upgrade aging potable water lines and raw water lines, construct a new sanitary force main and replace or rehabilitate gravity sewer mains.

The transportation project will increase connectivity and travel options in the area; the extension of Alden Road will provide a parallel travel corridor to Orange Avenue. The project will also provide traffic calming features on Lake Highland Drive. 

Potential Supply Chain Issues:

The City's Public Works Department is closely monitoring the global supply chain issue, labor shortages, and increases in the price of materials.

The competitive bid contractor and the City will strive to complete a capital improvement project on time and within budget. However, due to circumstances outside the control of both entities, there may be delays for necessary materials, potential for projects to be completed over budget, and potential delays.

We will continue to work with the community and our stakeholders to address the abovementioned issues and return normalcy to a community.

Potential Adverse Weather:

The contractor and city will monitor the weekly weather forecast. The contractor may elect not to work should rain or adverse weather be in the weather forecast, regardless if rain actually occurs.

Should a weather event occur, the contract may find it necessary to take one or two days to remediate the project area before beginning work again.

Potential Utility Conflicts:

Safety and maintaining continuous utility service are our number one priority. Delays like this are sometimes necessary to maintain our commitment. 

Capital improvement projects are fluid. Our consultant, contractor, and project manager do an excellent job designing, engineering, and constructing projects. However, once the contractor opens the roadway, it is not uncommon to find utilities not mapped, declared, or in conflict with the current design or path of the new utilities. 

The contractor may need to delay working until a solution is readily available to resolve the conflict. 

Unexpected Utility Damage (Non-City Utilities):

Please be advised, the contractor or the city cannot and will not make repairs to cable, internet, fiber lines, water or power lines.

Constituents must contact their service provider as soon as possible if this unforeseen event occurs.

The service provider will make repairs. Upon notifying the service provider, please contact the construction manager or inspector and inform them of your situation.

The utility project will result in a significant impact to the corridor roadways. Affected roads will be closed and will have restricted access for local traffic. Detours will be posted to route traffic to adjacent, open corridors.

While every effort will be made to minimize impacts to the adjoining businesses and residences, there will be periods of time where driveway access will be cut off due to the utility excavation taking place. The contractor will be required to backfill the excavation at the end of each day, restoring limited local access within the work zone. The timing and extent of access interruption will be coordinated with, and communicated to, the affected business owners and residents.