The I-Drive Pedestrian Bridge Finally Has a Designer

November 14, 2026 Staff Reports

Thirteen years after it was first discussed, the pedestrian bridge over International Drive at Sand Lake Road has a designer: Avcon, Inc., on a contract capped at $4.4 million, for a $35.6 million project targeted for 2030.

2 minute read

Thirteen years after it was first discussed, the pedestrian bridge over the intersection of International Drive and Sand Lake Road has a designer. On Tuesday, November 10, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners selected Orlando-based Avcon, Inc. to provide design services for the bridge, and authorized the county’s Procurement Division to negotiate and execute the contract at a budget not to exceed $4.4 million.

The bridge

The project carries an estimated total price of $35.6 million, funded through the International Drive Community Redevelopment Agency. The design, approved in preliminary form last year, is a distinctive “drone”-shaped structure intended to give pedestrians safe access to and from any corner of one of the busiest intersections in the visitor corridor, with stairs and elevators rather than a dash across Sand Lake Road’s traffic.

The timeline, honestly

This week’s vote buys design and engineering, not construction. Design is expected to run to late 2027 or early 2028, with completion of the bridge targeted for 2030. The project has been discussed since 2013 and has stalled before over funding and feasibility; the county’s own paperwork this week is a selection and a negotiating authorization, and the final contract still has to be negotiated within that $4.4 million ceiling.

Even so, it is the furthest the bridge has ever got: a named firm, a priced design phase, and a funding source that exists. For the tens of thousands of people who work and stay along the corridor — and cross Sand Lake Road on foot because the trolley, the bus and the shift change do not care about the traffic lights — a dated design contract is the first piece of this project that has ever resembled a schedule. We will check the schedule against the calendar as it moves.

Photo: The Orlando Eye at ICON Park, up the Drive from the Sand Lake Road intersection. Photo: Chad Sparkes, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources & notes

Key facts in this brief were checked against:

Orange County Board of County Commissioners — agenda, November 10, 2026 (official) — consent item 26-1233: selection of Avcon, Inc. for design services for the International Drive and Sand Lake Road Pedestrian Bridge, with authorization to negotiate and execute the final contract not to exceed $4,400,000.
The Orlando Real (November 10, 2026) — the $35.6 million project estimate, funding through the International Drive Community Redevelopment Agency, and the drone-form design giving access to any corner of the intersection.
Orlando Business Journal — weekly top headlines (November 13, 2026) — design expected to finish between late 2027 and early 2028, completion targeted for 2030, discussion dating to 2013.

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