Residents examine plans to widen Canoe Creek Road for the future Southport Connector to Deer Run Road during an April 30 presentation at the St. Cloud Community Center. A project to widen a northern section of the road from Deer Run to U.S. 192 is already in the design stage. (Photo/Terry Lloyd)
Osceola County held two public meetings to finalize a Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study for the widening of Canoe Creek Road from Deer Run Road south to the future Southport Connector Expressway.
A virtual meeting was held on April 29, and a presentation took place at the St. Cloud Community Center on April 30.
The study evaluated widening the existing two-lane rural roadway to a four-lane divided roadway with pedestrian and bicycle multi-use trails. The PD&E Study included a wide range of engineering assessments and environmental analyses, and a final study report will be presented to the Osceola County Board of Commissioners in expected in June. A separate project to widen Canoe Creek Road from Deer Run Road to U.S. 192 is already in the design phase following the completion and approval of a PD&E study in October 2025.
The Canoe Creek Road improvements through the now-rural southern section are needed as the new, massive Waterlin subdivision (formerly called Green Island Ranch) with up to 17,000 homes planned, now under construction, and the future planned Richland Communities come online. Also being planned in the area is the Central Florida Expressway’s State Road 515, which will connect to Florida’s Turnpike south of Waterlin, cross Canoe Creek Road, head northeast to U.S. 192 east of Harmony before connecting to the Sunbridge Parkway (State Road 534), a southern extension of the planned Osceola Parkway, at Nova Road.
Several residents on the section of Canoe Creek Road, between Mildred Bass Road and Sullivan Drive, and across from the Waterlin development, voiced concerns Thursday night of potential future flooding due to the now higher elevation of the subdivision and the new road.
“The Waterlin development raised up that land about four feet, and the new road has to meet that. Where is the water going to go? Before we were higher than the surrounding land, and have never flooded,” said long-term resident Bill Coffman, who lives on Sullivan Drive.
Both Osceola County officials and project consultants listened to the residents’ concerns and explained what design requirements and permits were required for the new development, including those from the South Florida Water Management District, which is responsible for flood control in most of Osceola County. They also committed to examining their concerns.
Still, new subdivisions have been known to cause flooding of neighboring older homes, as occurred at numerous locations in Volusia County in 2024, when the region experienced very heavy rains associated with the passing of Hurricane Milton.
For more information on the Canoe Creek Road widening project from the future Southport Connector Expressway to Deer Run Road, see https://bit.ly/4utFWrE.
