Poinciana Gets Relief at a Cost
On December 11, 2025, Florida officials approved a toll road that had been rejected, studied, debated, and blocked for seven years.
The Southport Connector will cut 15 miles through some of the most environmentally sensitive land in Central Florida, running alongside a preserve that protects the headwaters of the Everglades.
The people who live in Poinciana say they have no choice. The conservationists who manage the land next door say there’s no happy ending.
Poinciana Has America’s Worst Commute
A 2025 study found that Poinciana residents have the worst commute in the entire country.
The average trip to work or school takes 51 minutes each way, adding up to more than eight hours every week stuck in traffic.
Some residents say a 30-minute drive can turn into two hours. The congestion has gotten 25% worse since 2019.
Traffic on Cypress Parkway operates at what engineers call Level of Service F, meaning long delays and backups throughout the day.
90,000 People With One Way Out
About 90,000 people now live in Poinciana, and there’s essentially one way in and one way out. Residents describe driving to doctor’s appointments as a daily struggle.
The community straddles Osceola and Polk Counties, tucked between wetlands and preserves with limited road options.
Osceola County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, and it has some of the worst commute times to go along with it.
More cars arrive every month.
The Road CFX Rejected in 2018
This is not the first time officials considered the Southport Connector.
In 2018, the Central Florida Expressway Authority abandoned the project because projected toll revenue covered only 17% to 29% of construction costs.
The agency requires projects to cover at least 50% of their costs through tolls before moving forward.
The board decided to revisit the project periodically as conditions in surrounding communities changed. Seven years later, conditions changed enough.
Toll Revenue Still Falls Short
The math has not improved much since 2018.
Despite projected toll revenue of $740 million, the Southport Connector will still cover only 29% of the $2. 54 billion cost, well below the agency’s 50% threshold.
Osceola County Commissioner Brandon Arrington said he wants to keep working with staff to find partnerships and phasing opportunities to improve that percentage.
The board approved the project anyway, voting unanimously on December 11.
Route Cuts Through Wildlife Corridor
The expressway will run through a critical portion of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, an 18-million-acre expanse of state land that provides habitat for many fragile plants and animals.
The corridor is the only remaining intact wildlife passage east of the Mississippi that still supports native Florida panthers.
Jason Lauritsen of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation says fragmentation like this causes wildlife populations to become isolated, leading to less diversity over time.
Disney Wilderness Preserve at Risk
The Disney Wilderness Preserve is an 11,500-acre nature reserve near Kissimmee, created through an agreement between The Walt Disney Company, The Nature Conservancy, and the state of Florida.
Disney purchased over 8,000 acres of wetlands from a cattle rancher in the 1990s to offset environmental impacts from its theme parks and hotels.
The preserve sits at the headwaters of the greater Everglades watershed and provides habitat for Florida panthers and black bears.
The new road will border its edge.
Prescribed Burns Cut by 34%
The Nature Conservancy manages the Disney Preserve and relies on controlled fires to keep the ecosystem healthy.
Janet Bowman, senior policy analyst with The Nature Conservancy, said the road will have a detrimental impact on prescribed burns across 3,500 acres of the preserve, reducing the window for burns by about 34%.
Woodpeckers that call the preserve home require a specific type of longleaf pine forest that needs regular fire to survive.
Smoke and highways do not mix well.
Elevated Sections for Wildlife
Officials say parts of the road will be built elevated above Cypress Parkway, which will allow animals to pass underneath.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation has suggested the expressway be elevated even through undeveloped areas to reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife, especially endangered Florida panthers.
Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks said the plan protects the wildlife corridor and encouraged continued work with conservation professionals.
17,000 More Homes Already Approved
The road is not just about current traffic.
Developers have already approved 17,000 new homes east of the Southport Connector in a master-planned community called Waterlin.
Conservation experts worry the road will accelerate urbanization in an area that was supposed to stay rural.
Charles Lee, director of advocacy at Audubon of Florida, said there is really no happy ending, only what he would describe as a modest lessening of impacts.
Osceola County Could Double by 2040
Osceola County was expected to reach 410,000 residents in 2025, but it has already hit 468,000 and could double by 2040.
Central Florida continues its rapid expansion, with Osceola County growing 19.7% in recent years. Traffic increased by 25% along Cypress Parkway from 2019 to 2024.
There are 1,700 miles of designated paddling trails. Osceola County alone is reviewing plans to build 11,000 more homes east of Lake Toho in the coming years.
Visiting the Florida Wildlife Corridor, Florida
The Florida Wildlife Corridor that this toll road will cut through spans nearly 18 million acres across the state, from the Everglades to the Panhandle.
About 10 million acres are already protected conservation lands, and the corridor contains 6,300 miles of trails, including 1,100 miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail.
Public access points include state parks, national forests, and wildlife management areas throughout Florida. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation website offers maps and trail guides.
What is the definition of “Protected”?
Especially since it is no longer protected.
Why must natural Florida pay for man’s commute? The landscape of Florida is disappearing at an extremely fast pace, as a native and resident for over 62 years, it breaks my heart to see land that was set aside for our wildlife, then be taken and other land that has no use be mitigated in its place. Stop this madness. If you don’t like your commute, then move. Stop paving over our wildlife corridors!
Natural wildlife pays for piss poor planning boards. Anyone who lives in Poinciana knows that the Counties and State have approved the use of wildlife areas to build housing developments which the developers and builders receive ginormous tax breaks. So the commute isn’t at fault the County Planning Boards are. Elections have consequences and Poinciana should remember next time they go to the poles.
Amen!! Don’t county commissions know how to say NO to the continual attack on what makes Florida. If they can’t they need to be replaced by people who are sympathetic to the plight of our wildlife, forest, lakes and sensitive areas.
I agree completely. Stop all the endless construction and destruction.
This is not about traffic relief for poinciana. This is to get semis, and traffic from I-4 to the turnpike without having to go thru Orlando.the connector will connect from poinciana pkwy go down cypress pkwy to Southport and to the turnpike . It will. Do nothing for traffic on pleasant hill road. Which is part of the congestion problem. Not everyone leaving poinciana is going to take a toll road to go to Kissimmee or OBt or Orlando.. they. Wil not take the turnpike just the commercial vehicles will do that. What they have to do is extend Kia thru reedy creek ti poinciana blvd. Have it join reaves road then it can. Funnel to ethier ham brown rd or pleasant hill. Our main problem is the traffic light timing, and alternate road out of poinciana. Even if Koa was made 4 lane and elevated over reedy creek 2-3 miles. I doubt it would go up to 2.4 billion dollars. This is all about toll money. They are extending poinciana pkwy from 17/92 to I-4. To funnel traffic from I-4 to P.P.down over cypress pkwy to the turnpike without having. Which does nothing for our log jam which is at poinciana blvd and cypress pkwy no common sense, follow the money trail.and the corrupt politicians and you will see that this is not going to help poinciana.
You need to proof read your replies before posting, your grammar and spelling is atrocious!
Pardon my grammar and spelling it’s the autocorrect on my phone it seems to think it knows my intentions. I tried to edit it. but could find how after it was sent. If you can edit some of the grammar and add periods and where it says Kia the word should be Koa I would appreciate it.
No, NO, how can they get away with this????
Us tax payers need to stand together to fight this.
It’s bad enough that Florida is taking habitat from animal to build. I say STOP, this is bull crap.
Politicians cry about WATER . Well the more building that’s more water.
Stop all these big shots from developing all over.
When is everyone going to wake the hell up?
Make the developers pay a lot more than they are now. I was born and raised in Florida and sick of seeing Florida’s beauty and native animals pushed out and killed so more people can move here. Greed is killing our land it’s terrible our resources are not going to last we need to stop developing and start building our infrastructure up so we can have safe developments that coincide with our resources.