Anderson Street sign in Orlando replaced after car damaged

2022-07-29 23:49:58 By : Mr. Leo Teng

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation recently made changes at a busy road in downtown Orlando after a viewer wrote in to Spectrum News 13’s Traffic Inbox.

Chris Upchurch said the incident happened while he was driving his mom home from a show at the Dr. Phillips Center in downtown Orlando in May. He was traveling on westbound Anderson Street over Interstate 4 at about 11 p.m. when his car drove over the median and the remnants of a metal post that had been knocked down.

“I basically ran right up over that thing even before I knew what was happening and I just heard this terrible crunch and grinding under my car," Upchurch said. "And at that moment, I knew I’m going to be lucky from getting out from this."

He said there was nothing around it that could have warned him about the road hazard. 

“No signage, no reflectors, not that great of lighting, and I was just going straight ahead,” he said. “That's how I ended up running over the median.”

He couldn't see the raised median or what was left of the sign post.

“It kind of tore straight down to the bottom,” he said, noting the thousands of dollars of damage that was done to his car.

“There’s this big empty space where the exhaust system should be,” Upchurch said.

The Anderson Street overpass was reconstructed as a part of I-4 Ultimate work, requiring some twists to maneuver over I-4.

Told about the problem, an FDOT spokesperson said the department sent a crew to Anderson Street and replaced the damaged sign with a new one, to better help guide drivers.

“I don't want this to happen to anyone else because I can tell it’s way too easy to get your car run up over that thing,” Upchurch said.

Go to the Spectrum News App or mynews13.com/trafficinbox and fill out the form to send us your traffic question or problem.