LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Months after Hurricane Milton washed out a large section of Britt Road in Mount Dora, the county board said they plan to fix it, but they cannot do it alone.
“I wish we could move faster. We know it’s really inconvenient,” said Lake County CommissionChair and District 4 Commissioner Leslie Campione.
This road is a north-south connector between State Road 44 (SR 44) and Round Lake Road, providing access to the Wekiva Parkway. The closure has forced residents to rely on alternative routes, such as SR 44 and County Road 437 (CR 437), leading to increased congestion and challenges for those without other access to their neighborhoods.
“It’s really bad and then this happened, so, it’s really made the problem worse. I hear from a lot of residents, [that] they’re unhappy,” Campione told News 6.
She said the commission has been working on the issue since it happened, but there are several factors prolonging their effort.
According to the county, the reconstruction of Britt Road faces four key challenges:
- Severe damage: Hurricane Milton’s 15 inches of rain destroyed approximately 100 feet of the road lengthwise, creating a 20-foot-deep hole with spring activity throughout the site. Repairing the road requires complex engineering to address drainage patterns and environmental sensitivity.
- Right-of-way issues: The county is working to secure right-of-entry agreements and a purchase agreement from adjacent landowners to facilitate reconstruction.
- Federal and state approvals: As a Federal-Aid Highway, Britt Road requires approvals from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of Transportation for funding grants. The City of Mount Dora and the St. Johns River Water Management District must also authorize permits for the reconstruction.
- Cost and funding: Repair costs are estimated between $1 million and $2 million. Lake County plans to maximize emergency funding to offset local costs.
Campione said the county would want to purchase land because they want to fix the road and improve it to ensure it will not give in again.
“That road needs to be redesigned so that we don’t have this happen again,” she said. “Now that we know what it looks like underneath the road, since it completely washed out, we know we have some spring activity. So, you’ve got a constant flow of water anyway under that roadway. So, we’ve got to account for that. We also have to be prepared for future storms and that’s going to take a little bit more space than what we have right now.”
When asked if the county would consider acquiring the land through eminent domain, Campione said it is an option, but not their first choice.
“It’s a tough phrase. People don’t like to hear that. But there are times, especially in road projects, where that comes into play. We’re trying to avoid that,” she said. “But I mean, certainly when you can’t get cooperation, and you have a need of this nature that benefits and serves the public at large. It would have to be on the table. But I think that right now we’re making some headway while working with property owners and I think we’re going to get there.”
Once the necessary land is acquired, the project would take 7 to 8 months.
“Just to ask people to be as patient as they can and just let them know that we understand and we’re working on it. It’s a daily priority as far as Lake County is concerned,” Campione said.
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