AVALON PARK, Fla. – Residents are concerned about the lack of street lights on Avalon Park Boulevard and now, days after a fatal crash, they’re pushing to make the area safer.
The latest one happened at 3 a.m. Saturday. Troopers report that Alec Gomez, 15, was hit and killed by a motorcyclist. Gomez, a Timber Creek High School student, was skateboarding at the time.
The tragedy has struck a chord with many of the residents living nearby, even causing one woman to start an online petition. She wants Orange County to install streetlights there as soon as possible. She fears if they don’t, there could be another accident.
"There will be across the street, as I understand, townhouses and apartments, so there will be a lot more traffic and a lot more people, so it'll be a lot more congested," Jerry Eash said.
News 6 reached out a spokesperson for Orange County to get a statement on the petition, and this is the response we received back:
"Orange County is currently working through a 5-year program for lighting arterial roads throughout Orange County and are currently within year 3 of the program. The program began in 2015 and at the end of the program all of the 4 and 6 lanes roads will be lighted in the County. The County relies on the 2 local power companies OUC and Duke Energy to design, construct, operate and maintain the street lights on County roads. Avalon Park Boulevard from Crown Hill Boulevard to SR 50 is on the program for lighting in year 4 of the current program. The design is anticipated to begin in October of 2017. It typically takes 12 to 18 months for the utility companies to design and construct street lights on County roads. Staff will be contacting Duke Energy to see if there is any possibility to work through the projects that have already been designed and then move to construction; with the possibility of beginning design on the year 4 projects prior to October 2017."
Click here to read the Change.org petition.