Mount Dora, FL Monday, Feb. 17, 2017
Some Lake County residents in Sorrento/Mount Plymouth and future commuters on the Wekiva Parkway are getting shafted by environmentalists, FDOT (Florida Dept. of Transportation) and Orange County's Highway Authority. (That is my opinion, not that of presenter Leslie Campione.)
Wekiva Parkway is the expanded north west part of the Orlando beltway that is being constructed now.
You can get maps and an overview at: www.wekivaparkway.com Use or download the main map so you understand the project sections and numbers. The website also has numerous Powerpoints you can view for more information. Watch this one from Jan., 2014 with recent info:
Download Rotary Club of Apopka 013014
Lake County Commissioner gave an update at Lakeside Inn with TJ Fish, Executive Director of the Lake Sumter MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization).
You can watch the video here: http://youtu.be/GOLLPbjPTOc
The video is not completely in focus because the interior lighting at the Lakeside Inn is so poor the camera could not focus well, but it is clear enough to see the maps and listen to the audio.
Some of the highlights - I apologize if I use the wrong names - I am not familiar with the area:
- Environmentalists "won" in forcing the truncation of the existing HWY 46a from Sorrento, cutting off many residents from easy access to Sorrento. The also forced a really expensive design with raised highways to allow bridges for "critters" to use under the parkway. Local residents on the north end of HWY 46a are rather angry at the cutoff.
- Some parts of the Parkway and/or service road will be very close to some homes, and residents are upset. There also are not plans for sound walls due to using questionable sound measurements.
- The Parkway comes west from I-4, then drops south into Orange County, where there is an intersection then goes North west into Mount Dora.
- Orange County government is rapidly planning a large development in the Kelly Park area which could cause problems for a jobs center planned in Mount Dora.
- Looking at the Construction schedule on the website, it appears Orange County sections will be done TWO or more years before the sections in Lake County, thus benefitting land owners and developers in Orange County before Parkway sections are even done to expedite traffic into Lake County and Mt. Dora. For instance, segment 2C which connects the Parkway to Lake County is almost LAST in construction. That is a huge advantage. Here is the schedule of project sections - you have to have the big map or the Powerpoint to know which project numbers are for what sections.
Download Wekiva Pkwy Overall Schedule_update 110413(1)
- To me, the routing of the parkway, with the assistance of the environmentalists, seems to route it into Orange County for developers, and partially bypassing Lake County and Mt. Dora for future homebuyers.
- My experience watching similar fancy toll roads in Orange County, California is that their traffic will be less than expected, and they will run short of revenues. That is one reason why they used environmentalist issues to shut off the HWY 46 from acting as a FREE alternative.
- The tollway WILL be faster to use, and people working by I-4 will buy homes near Mt. Dora or Kelly Park, and absorb the toll costs to offset the cost of buying lower cost homes.
Suggestions:
- If you are concerned about the tricks being played to increase expenses a limits on access in Lake County to the Parkway, watch the video and then read the website.
- The final result will be faster but costlier travel between the I-4 corridor and Mt. Dora, while dumping on some homeowners in the Sorrento, Mount Plymouth area who will face longer commutes due to the shutdown of through traffic on HWY 46. Those homeowners should band together and sue FDOT for a "taking" of the value of their property and demand just compensation. I haven't figured out if the remaining "service road" (old 46) will still be usefull as a free, but slower alternative route to I-4.
Vance Jochim