The long process on building an expressway in Poinciana continues, one that would connect Poinciana Parkway— which will directly connect the community to County Road 532 and eventually Interstate 4— to Florida’s Turnpike, continues.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) recently heard an update on the Project Development and Environmental (PD&E) study for the Southport Connector. The portion of it that’s received the most public scrutiny has been the segment through the Poinciana business district, which CFX proposes to elevate over the median of Cypress Parkway.
The original plan, resembling a “wall” down the middle of the thoroughfare, met with opposition from residents and business owners who said the road would literally bi-sect the neighborhood. Since then, CFX has provided an amended idea of using bridges at the major intersections like at Marigol and Doverplum avenues and Solivita Boulevard.
While residents are still concerned about how a raised road would bisect the communities north of the Parkway from the businesses on the south side, and how building all those lanes will impact those businesses, the sides seem to be getting closer together based on a meeting with local residents held Sept. 30.
CFX will hold another information session geared to the area’s business community on Friday, Dec. 6 at 9:30 a.m. at the Poinciana Library on Doverplum Avenue. For more details on the project, go to https://www. movepoinciana.com.
CFX officials say the plan is still fluid, still in design, and still far enough out in order to make the changes that would provide a highway system that meets the needs of all involved—the builders and designers, drivers and merchants along the corridor. CFX Communications Director Brian Hutchings said the team anticipates presenting the full PD&E in December 2025.
“We still have a year or more in this process, then we get into design. For a project of this scope, that would take two years. Then the construction would take another two years,” he said. “In my experience, that would put us at 2029 starting construction, 2031 finishing it,” Hutchings said, noting that conversations about whether the work would start west and work east or vice versa are also currently ongoing.
The plan has been met with some resistance from the public, who’ve said the road would create, in essence, a “Great Wall of Poinciana” that would separate residential areas from the business district.
But CFX says that same public will benefit from having an extra lane of Cypress Parkway to travel on their local trips, and that the expressway will take through traffic off Cypress Parkway.
Input from the community has led the team to suggest to CFX building bridges, rather than walls, at the intersections, and expand and modernize Cypress Parkway to include widened sidewalks and a multi-use trail for walking, jogging and biking.
“It would create a full transportation portal,” CFX Communications Manager Geo Morales said.
“The pressing issue in Poinciana is the growth. There’s been a 25 percent increase in Cypress Parkway traffic just since 2019. We know there’s a need here.”
Through the community feedback process, Hutchings said the main concern he’s heard from the public has shifted from “What are you doing?” to, “When are you doing it?”
“And the process is far from complete, we will still be out in the community,” he said. “It is important for us to be transparent during this process.”
Morales noted, “There will be ongoing conversations to give people something, in the end, that they’re happy with.”
The Southport Connector is not the only project on CFX’s plate in Poinciana. The widening to four lanes of Poinciana Parkway from Marigold Avenue past the Reedy Creek bridge is complete. Hutchings said construction on the connection to County Road 532 will begin in 2026.
“We still have a year or more in this process, then we get into design. For a project of this scope, that would take two years.”
BRIAN HUTCHINGS CFX Communications Director
