Wekiva Parkway, 25-mile toll road, officially opens in Central Florida
SANFORD, Fla. - With the snip of scissors, the state's transportation leaders officially opened the final section of the Wekiva Parkway on Friday afternoon.
It was an especially proud moment for Charles Lee, who first got involved in 2002 with the commission that kicked off the project.
"It has happened in exactly the way we'd hoped it would, and the result is even better than we had imagined," Lee said.
The parkway, which is designated State Road 429, connects State Road 417 and Interstate-4, completing a 25-mile toll road that officials say will ease traffic congestion in Orange, Lake, and Seminole counties.
"Wekiva Parkway is known as a legacy project within FDOT, and it earns that title from the remarkable work put into it and the transformative results that it will achieve," said John Tyler, Florida Department of Transportation Dist. 5 Secretary.
MORE HEADLINES:
- Palm Bay teen recovering after uncle allegedly kills 3 family members inside apartment
- Woman, 85, killed by alligator was 'forced' to walk dog near 'dangerous' pond, attorneys say
- 'Bad neighbors' arrested in Florida after 102 complaints made against them
Transportation leaders said the project was even something foreseen by the state's visionaries.
"Walt Disney himself, on a black-and-white TV, imagined the beltway around Orlando, back in the '60s," said Michelle Maikisch, Central Florida Expressway Authority Exec. Director.
Officials stressed that this project wasn't just about transportation; it was also about conservation – and all the different steps they took throughout the course of this project to preserve the local ecosystem. As part of the project, the state bought more than 3,400 acres of land for preservation and built more than a mile-and-a-half of wildlife bridges, along with jump-outs for animals, special fencing, and bat houses.
"This basin provides habitat for many threatened or endangered species, rare species, and more than 25 natural springs," said Michael Register, St. John River Water Management Dist. Exec. Director.
Construction on the project started in 2018 and cost about $255 million. Charles Lee said the parkway project could be a blueprint other planners could follow to balance the needs of a growing population and preserve a vital ecosystem.
"We think it's so important that we have used the Wekiva Parkway, the process that got us here, and the design we ended up with, as a model in recommending road projects around the state."