Roundabout construction near Mount Dora leaves nearby businesses struggling

Just beyond Mount Dora's city limits, a Lake County roundabout project at the junction of Eudora Road, State Road 19, and Old Highway 441 is drawing complaints from business owners who say the closures have cut deeply into their sales.
Magical Meat Boutique reports its revenue is down 42 percent since construction began. The business has laid off workers and reduced hours for others just to tread water.  However, since media coverage began, the restaurant has received a lot of community support to help boost sales.  

Other area businesses like Dora Cafe and King's Donuts & Deli have also been negatively impacted.  Dora Cafe recently expanded its service to include dinner, which brings new revenue opportunities.

Sales aren’t slumping for Set in Stone, a headstone and monument company located at the junction, but the business has experienced challenges to its operations due to the current construction. Large trucks deliver stone to the business, which is no longer a simple task. 

The roundabout project has been on the radar for years, the Lake County Commission only approved the project on July 22, 2025. The Commission signed the contract with Atlantic Civil Constructors on Oct. 28, 2025, and the agreement took effect in November. The notice to proceed came on April 2, 2026.

The intersection of Eudora Road and Old 441 is now closed to north and south traffic, and crews are doing as much work as they can while east and west traffic remains open. A full closure of the intersection is expected in February 2027 and should last no more than three months. The segments of Eudora Road and Old Highway 441 that are already closed will remain closed for the full duration of the project.

A detour route was established to handle the displaced traffic, and a county spokesperson said multiple agencies helped plan alternate routes to keep service flowing to residents and businesses. The contractor updated GPS systems to steer drivers onto the detours. The detours’ impacts on emergency response times remain unclear.
Business owners in the area claim the county never warned them that prolonged closures were planned. The county disagrees. It says Public Works staff spoke with affected businesses before the closure, put out signs three to four weeks ahead of time, and communicated the project widely to the public. Other county staff have also been in touch with several owners about signage and public messaging.  

At issue is whether the county provided adequate advance notice to business owners and if enough efforts were made to mitigate adverse effects to those businesses in advance.

The County says it chose the current approach because construction would have been nearly impossible with traffic still moving, given the substantial utility relocation required at the Eudora Road and State Road 19 intersection. Staying open, it says, would have added $1 million to the cost for taxpayers and extended the project by about a year.