By Ken Jackson
Staff Writer

The Poinciana Parkway, a toll road that would connect Poinciana’s nearly 53,000 residents to U.S.  Highway 17-92 and provide easy access to Interstate 4 and Florida’s Turnpike, went from wish, to concept, to finally reality on Monday.

The Osceola Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to enter into an agreement with Polk County, the Osceola County Expressway Authority and AV Homes to build the road.

The vote, which provides for the construction, operation and funding of the road that will connect Cypress Parkway at the southeast via Marigold Avenue or Rhododendron Drive and U.S. Highway 17-92 and County Road 54 via Kinney Harmon Road at the northwest, was met with cheers from its Poinciana-based supporters.

“This is a great day for Poinciana residents who have long wanted and needed another way to get in and out of their community,” said Commissioner Brandon Arrington, whose district 3 includes the community served by the roadway.  “I’m happy that all the parties involved in this project were able to come together and deliver something that is so critical to the future of Poinciana. This is a step in the process in getting a viable transportation network.”

In previous commission discussions about the road, Arrington said the roadway is a step in the right direction toward fixing the traffic design flaws built before Poinciana swelled to its current population.

“Pleasant Hill Road is a wonderful example of bad design,” he said. “Poinciana Parkway represents the start of a new mobility pattern.”

Osceola and Polk counties will share in ownership of the 9.66-mile road; Osceola will maintain the southeast segment and Polk will maintain the northwest segment. The Expressway Authority will design and construct the road under a lease/purchase agreement and maintain the highway’s limited access areas. AV Homes, the prominent developer in Poinciana, is donating all construction plans previously completed along with various rights-of-way along the planned route.

Depending on the design schematics of the route, such as any four-lane portions that get drawn up, such as an all-important bridge over Reedy Creek in the project’s northwest portion, and whether the road takes the Marigold or Rhododendron route, the Parkway will cost between $60 and $90 million.

In order to smooth out a curve in the proposed road and allow for a speed limit of 65 or 70 miles per hour, the route was shifted a bit east, but onto a stretch of Reedy Creek wetlands that will require mitigation, adding to the road’s cost.

As for paying for the road, Osceola and Polk will each contribute $6 million for construction. The rest of the funding will come from a State Infrastructure Bank loan that Osceola County will secure and the expressway authority will pay support, and through revenue bonds payable by toll collections once the road is built.

Arranging the financing for the Parkway by June 15, 2013, was a condition in the county purchasing the Judge Property, a 165-acre parcel across U.S. Highway 192 from Osceola Heritage Park, for $150,000 as opposed to a figure over $3 million. An added provision stating the road must be finished within three years of the funding date must be met to keep from having to eventually pay the higher amount.

Atlee Mercer, chairman of the Osceola County Expressway Authority, said his organization could now move forward with securing the financing and beginning the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process for finding a builder for the road.

He said it could be completed, barring bad weather and other like factors, in two years of breaking ground, which he said could happen as soon as mid-February.

“I’m thrilled. Last October, we presented the plan we’re on now to the folks in Polk County, and we’re basically still on that same track,” he said.