Central Florida’s three million
population is swollen by a staggering
75 million tourists visiting each year,
putting strain on regional roads. In
response, the Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) and Central
Florida Expressway Authority (CFX)
are building the 40km Wekiva
Parkway, with Florida’s Turnpike
Enterprise (FTE) collaborating in
design and tolling of some sections.
The US$1.6 billion expressway,
Central Florida’s first all-electronic
toll facility, traverses the ecologically
sensitive Wekiva River, rich in
wildlife and subject to enhanced
environmental protections. Partner
authorities have implemented a raft
of measures safeguarding the area’s
natural resources and offering a
blueprint for similar projects in the
future, as FDOT secretary Kevin J.
Thibault explains.
“This project sets the standard for
linking mobility with environmental
stewardship,” says Thibault. “It
involved buying 3,400 acres of
conservation land, building 1.5 miles
of wildlife bridges and limiting the
number of interchanges. Three
bridges span the waterway with no
piers to disturb the riverbed and topdown
construction, with formtraveling
cranes working on
segmental box culvert bridges,
eliminating the need for equipment
in the waterway.”
Elevating the
roadway will
preclude conflicts
between vehicles and
wildlife and the overall
design achieves an authentic
‘parkway’ feel. “When completed
in 2022, the Wekiva Parkway
will become a model for smart
transportation planning through
sensitive natural areas everywhere,”
adds Thibault.
“The Wekiva Parkway closes the
gap in Central Florida’s beltway and
has already had tremendous success
in relieving congestion,” says CFX
executive director Laura Kelley.
“Where CFX anticipated 6,300
daily trips on the five-mile stretch
that opened in 2017, we are seeing
20,000 vehicles each day. But it is
about so much more than that. Years
of extensive collaboration have also
shaped ground-breaking
environmental protections, making
the expressway a source of
community pride.
“Many environmentalists now
refer to the ‘Wekiva Parkway Model’
when discussing future corridors,
and this IBTTA Award reinforces
that accomplishment.”
The Wekiva Parkway closes the
gap in Central Florida’s beltway
and has already had tremendous
success in relieving congestion
Laura Kelley, executive director,
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX)
20,000 The number of vehicles
using the first five-mile
stretch of Wekiva Parkway
each day. It opened in 2017
with expected traffic of
IBTTA Awards |
6,300 a day Social
Responsibility
Award
WINNER:
Central Florida
Expressway
Authority, Florida
Department of
Transportation and
Florida’s Turnpike
Enterprise
034 Traffic Technology International September/October 2019
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