The Osceola County Commission Monday approved a Florida Department of Transportation concept to start improving one of our area’s most congested intersection – John Young Parkway at Pleasant Hill Road. With the approval, it can move on to the design phase.

Folks have heard about a planned flyover from west JohnYoung to south Pleasant Hill and vice versa, and that’s a $120 million project in the works – but it’s not funded yet – but this is for a temporary fix.

A new “quadrant” road that would go southeast of the intersection and give The Oaks subdivision a new exit point – and the ability to go west on John Young and toward Pleasant Hill – will be built.

The benefits – FDOT said the morning delay at the intersection would shrink from 130 seconds to 80 seconds – are two-fold. One is making it easier to get through the intersection, and two, it will give crews the chance to build that flyover once it is funded. (Funding for right-of-way acquisition, $48 million of the cost, is in place.)

The new road would feature two new traffic lights – one on Pleasant Hill about a quarter-mile south of John Young, and another at the new back entrance to The Oaks. FDOT officials said they would be synchronized so they operate as one light.

The $6.4 million project is slated to be complete in – wait for it, literally – 2025.

County Commissioner Brandon Arrington, whose district 3 includes the intersection and lives off Pleasant Hill Road a few miles south of John Young, said the new road is, “Not the flyover we need, but it’s a great first step.”

According to County Transportation Director Tawny Olore, the project will improve ops and safety of that intersection and those nearby, accelerate the start of congestion relief and safety enhancement, give those in The Oaks the ability to go west on John Young or to Pleasant Hill (which they don’t have right now), and is 100 percent funded by state FDOT.

Information on the project — FDOT Project 418403-6, can be found here.