Road opens to traffic Friday
When is a road more than just a road?
Neovation Way, a new direct link from NeoCity to Neptune Road, will open for traffic on Friday. Osceola County held the ribbon cutting for it on Tuesday.
The two-mile road, with a 30 mph speed limit directly links NeoCity to Neptune Road and provides a southern link to the tech park. Locally, it will provide a way to get from the south side of downtown to roads like Fortune Road, Bill Beck Boulevard and U.S. Highway 192.
A side benefit will be taking some traffic off of Neptune Road, which is in the midst of a widening project east of Partin Settlement Road for at least the next two years.
In January 2022, standing right on the other side of a window where semiconductor manufacturing was going on, Gov. Ron DeSantis came to Osceola County to present a $6 million grant to help fund the construction of Neovation Way.
The project includes traffic signals at each end, at Neptune Road and NeoCity Way. Korean company DS Semicon, as part of a $25 million investment to build a NeoCity city center, will build it at the corner of NeoCity and Neovation.
Osceola County Commission Chair Cheryl Grieb, whose District 4 includes NeoCity, said the two miles are, “A whole lot more than a road.”
“Without the help of the Florida Department of Commerce and the $6 million investment, we likely wouldn’t be standing here, helping advance NeoCity’s vast potential,” she said. “Neovation Way is a beautiful road. You can see the details in the brick pedestrian crosswalks, a divided and landscaped median, on-street parking, unique light fixtures coming shortly, and two 10-foot sidewalks to make it very walkable, and a 12-foot right of way dedicated to bicyclists and rollerbladers, a great feature for those on the go.
“We’re trying to build complete streets, and not just put pavement down.”
It’s an expansion into an area dedicated to carve a place in the global semiconductor industry, where the county and the partners working at NeocCity have secured nearly $500 million in federal dollars to move that along.
“It’s more than just a road, it’s a gateway to all of the opportunities and prosperity NeoCity has to offer our region, our residents, the state and ultimately the U.S. economy,” Grieb said.
Don Fisher, who took the $6 million check right from DeSantis’ hands two-and-a-half years ago, said the road doesn’t happen without that help from the Governor’s office.
“It’s the first major transportation project for NeoCity outside of the first road (NeoCity Way),” he said. “It connects 80,000 residents south of here so they have the ability to come this way for employment.”
Local construction Jr. Davis Construction was part of the on-time, on-budget project.
