CLERMONT, Fla. — It’s one of the busiest stretches of State Road 50 in the state and now state leaders are looking to find relief for those drivers making their way from Clermont in Lake County to Florida’s Turnpike in Orange County.

What You Need To Know

  • FDOT is studying the possibility of a reliever road for State Road 50

  • Backups are common on State Road 50 between U.S. 27 and Florida’s Turnpike

  • Mary Anne Sherrod says another connector road is necessary due to Clermont growth

Mary Anne Sherrod drives every couple of weeks to Orlando to get plaster for her pottery shop, Plaster Cottage of Clermont.

“I used to hate it because you go to Orlando and all this traffic,” she said. “And now I go to Orlando and it's free as a bird and easy driving and then you come back toward Clermont and it's just backed up.”

Backed up indeed. Close to 60,000 cars travel on State Road 50 everyday between U.S. 27 and Florida’s Turnpike.

“There's only one main highway other than the turnpike that goes into Orlando and that's highway 50,” said Sherrod.

Heading east in the morning and west in the afternoon, it’s clogged on State Road 50, so much so the Florida Department of Transportation is now looking into a reliever road, something to cut back on commute times.

“It'll be more of a streamlined road I think similar to other expressways like the turnpike, SR-429, that kind of thing,” she told Spectrum News 13 as she drove on State Road 50. “More people would choose to take that route because they wouldn't stop like we are now at the traffic light here at Hancock Road and 50.”

FDOT began a study earlier this year for a reliever road between U.S. 27 and Florida’s Turnpike.

They’re currently analyzing the data to determine next steps.

No exact location has been determined.

“We need another artery, another main road into Orlando,” said Sherrod.