As my final year as an Orange County commissioner winds down, I feel a great sense of urgency to do everything I can to leave my home district better off than it was the day I entered office. Over the last eight years, District 4 has gone through dramatic transitions, going from bust to boom in what now seems like the proverbial blink of an eye. Honestly, it’s bittersweet to leave at a time when southeast Orange is poised to realize its potential as an economic juggernaut.
Propelled by a surge of residential and commercial development in the Lake Nona area, District 4’s rebound from the real estate crash has been nothing short of miraculous. Barely a day goes by that you don’t hear of a corporate headquarters, sports or medical facility, new business or residential community coming to the county’s southeastern border with Osceola County. District 4 is a whirlwind of dynamic growth, leaving a plethora of economic opportunities and myriad challenges in its wake.
Helping our area capitalize on opportunities and respond swiftly to challenges is the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX), whose governing board I joined as Orange County’s representative in 2017. Like my county commission post, my term on the CFX Board comes to an end later this year, but the short time I’ve spent with CFX has helped me gain a greater understanding of how vital the agency’s expressway system is to Central Florida’s economic mobility and overall quality of life.
For example, on March 9, CFX opens the new Innovation Way/Sunbridge Parkway Interchange that intersects with State Road 528 (Martin B. Andersen Beachline Expressway) about 10 miles east of Orlando International Airport. Paid for with toll revenues and built on land Orange County donated to CFX, this $62.5 million project exemplifies the toll road agency’s commitment to improving connectivity and travel efficiencies among the five counties it serves. The interchange is also a showcase of CFX’s intentions to build roads that accommodate multimodal systems, in this case the Brightline rail service connecting Orlando International Airport (OIA) with South Florida. CFX built the overpass spanning 528 to allow room for trains traveling parallel to the expressway’s eastbound lanes.
East and southeast Orange stand to benefit from CFX’s $1.6 billion, five-year (Fiscal 2018-22) work plan, too. An outline of systemwide upgrades, the work plan calls for making such capacity improvements as widening SR 408 (Spressard L. Holland East-West Expressway), 417 (Central Florida GreeneWay) and the 528, corridors that offer alternatives to congested roads leading to residential communities and employment, education and healthcare centers.
As massive developments like the 24,000-acre master planned community Sunbridge spread from county to neighboring county and attract private and public investment, the need for new corridors will arise. Looking to stay ahead of growth, CFX has already studied the feasibility of building an east-west route south of 528, linking southern Brevard with southeast Orange and Osceola counties. If you’re wondering how much current and future expressway projects might cost you as a taxpayer, the answer is not a dime — that is, unless you travel on CFX toll roads.
It’s reassuring to know that by every economic metric, District 4 is better off today than it was in 2010 when I joined the county commission. We are on the road to vibrant economic growth, thanks in no small part to partners like CFX helping pave the way forward.
