ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An interchange near the Orange County Convention Center is causing confusion for drivers who are now making their own exit to avoid a toll road.
- Drivers hop the curb to avoid the toll road
- Share your traffic trouble spots with Spectrum News 13
Tony Hansen says drivers heading south on Universal Boulevard end up in the far right lane that takes them to the State Road 528 eastbound onramp and at the last minute, that driver decides not to go on the toll road.
Instead, the driver hops the curb, travel across the sidewalk and grass and onto Orangewood Boulevard towards the Williamsburg area.
Spectrum News 13 spotted drivers making the illegal turn three times in an hour.
"You can see debris from where they damaged hubcaps driving up over this," Hansen pointed out.
The result is damage to vehicles and to the median meant to keep them in their lanes.
Hansen suspects it has not just confused tourists, but drivers wanting to beat the traffic.
"I've seen temper flares though when people are literally trying to cut in front of cars," he said.
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise stated that it is considering some options to prevent this illegal maneuver.
"We have performed a preliminary review of this location," said Angela Starke with Florida's Turnpike Enterprise. "We are considering a range of options, which include signing and pavement marking adjustments to provide additional direction to motorists wishing to go south on Universal/Orangewood Boulevard."
Hansen thinks something a little more concrete should be installed to keep cars from cutting over.
"So people don't keep cutting across; they're just going to have to barrier it off," he said.