{"id":60093,"date":"2025-12-18T18:03:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=60093"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:03:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:03:38","slug":"proposed-polk-county-toll-road-aims-to-keep-drivers-moving-amid-rapid-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/12\/18\/proposed-polk-county-toll-road-aims-to-keep-drivers-moving-amid-rapid-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Polk County toll road aims to keep drivers moving amid rapid growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traffic along U.S. 27 has become a daily grind for drivers cutting through northeastern Polk County, and state transportation officials say it\u2019s only going to get worse if nothing is done.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"687d80\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #687d80;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"418\" height=\"145\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-18T180147.156.webp?resize=418%2C145&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60094 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-18T180147.156.webp?w=418&amp;ssl=1 418w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-18T180147.156.webp?resize=300%2C104&amp;ssl=1 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To address congestion and keep up with rapid growth, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise is proposing a new toll road. The proposed expressway would run from U.S. 27 near Lake Wales north to U.S. 17\/92 near Davenport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s really necessary to address the current conditions and plan for the future,\u201d said Ivette Ruiz-Paz with Florida\u2019s Turnpike Enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ruiz-Paz says the road could also improve regional connectivity and help with emergency evacuation routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a well-attended Wednesday night workshop, some residents said they understand the need for relief on congested roads but want to make sure impacts on homes and neighborhoods are minimized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Corridor Alternatives Public Meeting Central Polk Parkway East Alternative\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Bym7ihSiFc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the state\u2019s estimate, the proposed corridor would affect two businesses, 85 farms, and 95 homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were wondering how close it\u2019s going to be to our home,\u201d said Gloria Brisbin who lives near Haines City. \u201cIt\u2019s very close to my home, so I have to feel the pain of that being right across the street.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed route would place the corridor just 500 feet from Brisbin and Ken Archbold\u2019s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are worried about the current map,\u201d Archbold added. \u201cIt would be ideal if the whole highway was moved further west away from our area, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials stressed that noise walls are possible, but they reminded that the project is still in the study phase. Public feedback will help shape the final plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more information or to share feedback,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/floridasturnpike.com\/turnpike-projects\/featured-projects\/central-polk-parkway-east-451419-2\/#1734533660186-d12c9c2a-846f\">visit the project website here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Traffic along U.S. 27 has become a daily grind for drivers cutting through northeastern Polk County, and state transportation officials say it\u2019s only going to get worse if nothing is&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMTJcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNS0xMi0xOFQxODAxNDcuMTU2LndlYnA_Zml0PTQxOCUyQzE0NSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IlByb3Bvc2VkIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IHRvbGwgcm9hZCBhaW1zIHRvIGtlZXAgZHJpdmVycyBtb3ZpbmcgYW1pZCByYXBpZCBncm93dGgiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.6XYr-xyBHAUyXbShLhafDseS_T_GfnbetgvoZv9tumoMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":60094,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-18T180147.156.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[12920],"class_list":["post-60093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-proposed-polk-county-toll-road-aims-to-keep-drivers-moving-amid-rapid-growth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60095,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60093\/revisions\/60095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}