Florida Department of Transportation
Kissimmee Officials Announce new Bridge to reduce Pedestrian Accidents
Kissimmee officials recently announced that they are going to build a new pedestrian bridge over a particularly busy road in order to make it safer for people who use a nearby bike trail. The bridge will be built at John Young Parkway near Columbia Avenue at the end of the bike trail, where it meets a very busy six-lane highway. The projected cost of the bridge is $8 million, but city officials say that this is a small price to pay to protect lives. Around 40,000 cars travel on this section of John Young Parkway every day. Since one side of the trail ends at this busy road, pedestrians and bicyclists often risk crossing the six lanes of traffic to get to the other side.
Police Officer Injured in DUI Hit-and-Run Crash
A St. Cloud Police officer is recovering from injuries he suffered when a suspected drunken driver struck his patrol car and then fled the scene of the accident. Investigators report that the officer’s car was struck around 10:45 p.m. near Old Canoe Creek and Neptune Roads in Osceola County. They say that the injured officer was conducting a normal patrol when his car was struck by a 49-year-old man, address unknown, who also suffered injuries in the hit-and-run accident. He was arrested shortly after the incident and now faces charges of DUI with serious bodily injuring, DUI with property damage and aggravated fleeing and eluding. He in being treated for undisclosed injuries at an area hospital and will be taken to the Osceola County Jail on release from the hospital. The injured officer was treated for minor injuries and released from a local hospital.
Making Dangerous Stretch of I-4 More Accessible for Emergency Vehicles
Orlando auto accident lawyers fully support efforts to make a particularly dangerous stretch of Interstate 4 in Volusia County more accessible for emergency responders. A recent editorial in the Daytona Beach News-Journal called the portion of I-4 between State Road 44 and U.S. 92 “a cattle chute,” due to the high rate of accidents during road construction and the difficulties emergency responders are having in getting to people injured in these accidents.