Bridge at 470 and Turnpike
 

Any idea what the crane is doing by the bridge at 470?Looks like a golf cart bridge?

Too Early
 

I think they still have to remove the old bridge. They are widening the turnpike.

Not sure but that crane hasn't moved in a year.

Actually the first crane arrived last March. Since then a matching crane arrived and more recently a much larger crane joined the group. Now one of the smaller pair is no longer there.

As another poster stated, they are expanding the turnpike and 470 as well.

Whether there will be golf cart access over the new bridge is the subject of speculation and building plans that are being held very close to the vest by those in charge.

Looks like the Turnpike project including the 470 interchange is budgeted to start 2027-2029.

. . .


Widen the Turnpike Mainline / SR 91 from North of US 27 / SR 19 (North) (MP 289.3) to North of Leesburg / CR 470 (MP 297.3)

The project widens a segment of the Turnpike Mainline / SR 91 from US 27 / SR 19 (North) to north of Leesburg / CR 470.

The widening will increase the number of travel lanes from four to eight.

Work includes pavement widening, milling and resurfacing, maintenance of traffic plan, new stormwater treatment facilities, new bridge structures, new ramp tolling sites, signing, pavement marking improvements, signals, lighting, communications, and right-of-way acquisition.

https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.ne...rsn=5aca9f0f_1

2027 is a few years away but many times they do the bridges prior to the actual widening of the payment. This project is way over do.

Widening isn’t just near us
 

They are widening all the way to Bocca, it isn’t a small project and will probably overshoot on dates and cost.

It’s been there since we moved here in May.

I was riding my bike by there the other day when they were moving those cranes around and I stopped and asked the guy what the plan was. He said he wasn't sure what the configuration was going to be but it was going to be wide enough that at least six lanes could be built over the turnpike.

I wouldn’t count on the new bridge being golf cart accessible. It took a lot of political muscle to get the Water Lilly and Bexley bridges in. Warm Springs was not so lucky, but there is some hope when the Eastbound bridge gets rebuilt and some of the commercial sites get built up. The pipeline on the Westside of the Turnpike complicates things.

There'll be cart lanes

Unique
 

The mentioned intersection does have to have an interchange attached to allow entry and exit from the turnpike to 470 for all vehicles. A golf cart bridge would be nice, but I have my doubts because it would need to cover the entire expanse of new infrastructure. A golf cart bridge would have to go over more than a 1/4 mile of roadway and be high enough to clear the ramps that semi trucks and larger vehicles use daily to access 470. There is already the viable option of the golf cart bridge up at Bexley.

The enormous cost of the hypothetical golf cart bridge would be absorbed by who? What would be reason for its justification? Would Leesburg, Mount Dora and Clermont want to fund it through county taxes?

A new golf cart bridge wouldn’t need to just jump the current expanse, it would need to incorporate an additional 4 more lane widths in distance, the ramps for the turnpike and the new easement restrictions. That’s one very long golf cart bridge.

I’m sure everyone would like a golf cart bridge there including myself, but it will take an awful lot of magic fairy dust to get that wish.