SANFORD, Fla. – Before work to build the future Wekiva Parkway interchange can begin, crews will need to relocate gopher tortoises that call that area home.
Officials from the Florida Department of Transportation said that as part of the preliminary work on the interchange that will connect State Road 429 to Interstate 4, the vegetation near the future construction was canvassed for gopher tortoise burrows.
Crews found 40 burrows on the project site and while it's likely that some of them are inactive, it's estimated that up to 26 gopher tortoises could be living in the area.
A state permit will allow officials to collect the threatened reptiles and relocate them to a permitted recipient site in Osceola County known as Camp Lonesome Phase I.
Once the tortoises are relocated, work will begin on the $253.3 million section of the parkway, which will involve building from Orange Boulevard to east of Rinehart Road. Officials said they expected to find gopher tortoises in the area due to the surrounding vegetation and soil so they factored that into their timeline for construction.
Construction is expected to be completed in late 2022.