Orange County is finally putting shovels behind the promises in Horizon West, pushing a lineup of major road projects into construction and pre-construction that county leaders say should ease those daily, brake-light-filled backups. The work, stretching from Ficquette and Reams to the Flemings Road extension and a new link on New Independence Parkway, is designed to widen key corridors, add 10-foot shared-use paths and build wildlife-friendly crossings while tightening connections between neighborhoods and Lake County.
What’s in the pipeline
Construction is already underway on segments 5 and 6 of the Flemings Road extension, where a two-lane rural road is being rebuilt into a four-lane divided corridor. Plans call for a 10-foot multiuse path on the north side, a sidewalk on the south side and upgrades at the intersections with CR 545 and Western Way. The reworked road is set to tie into Sawgrass Bay Boulevard at the Lake County line, with county officials projecting construction to wrap up in early 2027, according to Orange County.
Ficquette and Reams move forward
The long-anticipated widening of Ficquette Road is expected to start in the coming weeks, a change many local drivers have been waiting on every time traffic crawls behind Disney. The project will expand the corridor from two lanes to four, straighten out an S-curve and swap the notoriously clogged Reams/Summerlake/Ficquette traffic signal for a roundabout. It also includes a west-side multiuse trail, a sidewalk on the opposite side and drainage and lighting improvements. The corridor carried about 17,000 vehicles a day in 2019 and just over 22,000 today, as reported by Spectrum News 13.
Right next door, the Reams Road improvement project is in the right-of-way acquisition phase and will widen roughly 2.8 miles from south of Summerlake Park Boulevard to Taborfield Avenue. Plans call for two lanes in each direction separated by a raised median, a closed drainage system, a shared-use path, a new bridge, wildlife crossings and upgraded lighting and landscaping, according to details from Orange County.
Regional links and New Independence Parkway
Orange County crews are also building about a mile of new four-lane New Independence Parkway to connect east of CR 545 (Avalon Road) to Wellness Way at the Lake County line. The project includes 10-foot multiuse paths on both sides and drainage upgrades. County leaders say this extension will tighten the regional connection to Lake County and it is moving forward alongside developer-funded work at Sawgrass Bay, as reported by West Orlando News.
Safety, schedules and how to follow progress
County staff emphasize a safety-first approach, with designs that try to keep people walking and biking out of harm’s way, not as an afterthought. "When designed with pedestrians and bicyclists explicitly in mind, intersections can facilitate safe, accessible, convenient, and comfortable walking and bicycling," Humberto Castillero said, as published by West Orlando News. Residents can follow maps, schedules and construction alerts on Orange County’s project dashboard.
Work on the busiest corridors will roll out in phases over the next two years. Some projects are slated to finish by early 2027, while others, including Ficquette, are expected to keep crews in the field for roughly two years. County officials say nearby homeowners will get direct notifications and construction newsletters as key milestones hit, and drivers should brace for intermittent lane closures and detours as each segment shifts into active construction.
