Stretch of Wekiva Parkway opens from Orange County to Lake County

SORRENTO, Fla. – After 30 years of negotiations and planning, drivers hit the pavement on the first section of the long-awaited Wekiva Parkway Wednesday.

The Florida Department of Transportation opened the roadway from County Road 435 (Mount Plymouth Road) near Haas Road in Orange County to State Road 46 east of Camp Challenge Road in Lake County.

"We've had a tremendous amount of public involvement during the study and the planning and the design of this project to get to this stage. We've had literally hundreds of public meetings," said Mary Brooks the Public Information Officer for the Wekiva Parkway, FDOT.

The Wekiva Parkway is a $1.6 billion project that will complete Central Florida’s beltway around the western half of the Orlando metro area. The work on the first part of the projected 25-mile parkway began in February 2013, with a construction cost of $25.48 million. The parkway will feature all electronic tolling to give drivers alternative routes, and provide some relief to US 441, SR 46 and other nearby roads.

The Wekiva Parkway development included conserving more than 3,400 acres of land. It includes wildlife bridges, fencing, and jumpouts for animals that wander near the road
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"There's a lot of planning, right-of-way, and engineering that goes into something like this. Plus with the environmental concerns, the environmental studies that we had to do before you build something like this," said Steve Olson, FDOT public information officer.

The next step in the project will be to extend the road another five miles and build a bridge over the Wekiva River, bringing drivers into Seminole County. The finished roadway is projected to be complete when it connects with Interstate 4 in 2021.