By Anita Todd & Carl Fish
Polk County, Florida – A stretch of Central Florida that many families have called home for years now sits at the center of one of the region’s largest proposed transportation projects. Thirty eight homes and five businesses, some situated along clay roads and citrus groves, lie in the path of the newly selected route for the Central Polk Parkway East, also known as the CPPE.
State officials presented the findings of their PD and E study during a December 2 virtual hearing, outlining the route, design concepts and anticipated impacts. The fuller, face to face discussion will take place later this week at an in person public hearing on Thursday, December 4 at the Tom Fellows Community Center in Davenport. The open house begins at 5:30 p.m. and the formal presentation begins at 6:00 p.m.
For many residents, this hearing is more than a routine step in the process. It is the first opportunity to see how the lines drawn on planning maps may shape the land they live on, work on and travel through each day. Many of the affected parcels hold homes, small businesses, groves and workshops that have been maintained for decades.
Polk County continues to rank among the fastest growing counties in the nation. Anyone who has driven US 17 92 during peak hours has witnessed the strain. Traffic has risen nearly 40 percent as new neighborhoods and commercial projects continue to build out across Davenport, Haines City and Poinciana.
The CPPE is intended to ease that pressure. The proposed route would connect US 17 92, just south of the Powerline Road extension near James Street, to the future Poinciana Connector, also known as State Road 538. A second segment that would extend south of James Street to Highway 60 in Lake Wales will be discussed during the week of December 15.
The total estimated cost of the project is approximately 1.4 billion dollars. This includes 66 million dollars for design, 119 million dollars for roadway right of way, 39 million dollars for stormwater and floodplain acquisition, 109 million dollars for engineering and inspection and roughly 1.1 billion dollars for construction.
Right of way and construction funding are not yet available. The project will move into design as funding becomes available.
If ultimately constructed, the Parkway could reduce traffic on US 17 92 by more than half in the morning and nearly three quarters in the evening. Travel times could drop by roughly one third to nearly one half during peak hours. For thousands of commuters, that would represent meaningful time regained.
An important portion of the land identified along the route contains existing homes, established businesses and groves that reflect how people live and work in this part of Polk County.
Thursday’s meeting gives residents the opportunity to see the project up close, understand how the alignment affects their area and ask questions directly to officials with Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.
For more information or to review project materials, visit CentralPolkParkwayEast.com.
