The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is installing equipment to detect wildlife within a 34-mile-long segment of State Road (S.R.) 40 from S.R. 35 to the Volusia County line in Lake County.

A total of 80 solar-powered safety signs are being installed along S.R. 40 to warn drivers when wildlife has been detected near the road. When activated, these signs will flash yellow lights. The goal of the project is to reduce the number of collisions between vehicles and wildlife.

Sign locations were determined using input from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as well as results of studies about the migratory habits of wildlife conducted by local universities and 10 years of FDOT crash data.

Additionally, nine cameras installed on newly erected concrete poles along S.R. 40 will enable FDOT to monitor traffic in real time from the agency’s District 5 Regional Transportation Management Center in Sanford.

Three sensors capable of detecting smoke and fog are being installed in this forested area to enable FDOT to alert the traveling public to the hazard of poor visibility. Four digital traffic signs will also be installed on S.R. 40, allowing FDOT to display messages about current road and traffic conditions.  

These signs will not be activated until a subsequent project installs wildlife-detection units, which are currently undergoing testing. A contract to install the detection units is expected to be advertised later this year. Once fully operational, these units will remotely signal nearby signs to flash their lights when wildlife has been detected.