ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Corrine Drive in Orlando will soon be getting a makeover.
“This area is changing. It’s not a cut-through anymore. There’s a viable neighborhood here,” said Brent Hernandez.
When Brent Hernandez opened Redlight Redlight on Corrine Drive seven years ago, the street was mostly a way to get from Audubon Park to Baldwin Park and Winter Park.
Now, it’s come into its own.
“Almost everything we have here is independently-owned businesses.”
But, the two-mile stretch itself is missing sidewalks. The road is cracked and deteriorating, and it’s a hotbed for speeding.
“It’s like playing a game of Frogger with your life trying to cross the street.”
“When people, they park on the street, and they get sideswiped, or they felt unsafe parking on the street so they park half in the street, half on the sidewalk,” said Metroplan Orlando Project Manager Elizabeth Whitton.
Whitton said that 75 percent of drivers on this road speed, and there have been almost 300 crashes there in just six years.
Metroplan Orlando finished a plan this week to fix the road and add sidewalks, bike paths and raised crosswalks and intersections - anything to make it more pedestrian-friendly.
Hernandez hopes it’ll mean more people grabbing a drink at his bar.
“We have so many people that live in the neighborhood that would come in more probably. I love the plan. It needs all the stuff and maybe even more than what they planned for,” he said.
The project would cost between $9 million and almost $15 million, depending on how quickly it’s completed.
There’s a public meeting to discuss the project at the Audubon Park K-8 School on May 1.