FLORIDA:First 10km of Polk Pkwy pike opens

The first section of the Polk Parkway (FL/TOLL-570) opened on Aug 9. The toll road which is part of the state turnpike system will form an flipped L-shape section 40km (25mi) in length around the south and east sides of Lakeland, connecting at each end to the I-4 freeway which angles northeast-southwest across the county on its journey between Orlando and Tampa. The project is estimated to cost $470m. Ground was broken Jan 96.

Just opened is the western section, a 10.4km (6.5mi) spur from I-4 on the western side of the Lakeland area going a short distance south over a railroad and US-92, the old Tampa Hwy, then heading southeast past the Lakeland regional airport and turning due east as far as South Florida Avenue, a north-south arterial (Route 37 near the bottom of our map.)

This section contains six interchanges and ramp plazas. Construction is proceeding on other parts of the pike and two-thirds, as far as US-92 on the east side of the town are due for completion next summer, a few months behind the original schedule. The present construction is 2x2 lanes with space in the median for widening inward.

The final leg north of US-92, about a third of the total length heading toward Orlando, is projected to carry very little traffic for now and is only being build 1x2-lanes with just one intermediate interchange. This part is due to open the end of 99.

Manual tolling will on completion be by 3 mainline barrier plazas collecting $1.00 from cars and 7 ramp plazas collecting 25c and 50c tolls. There will be “Exact Change” lanes with automatic coin machines and “Change Lanes” with human collectors at the barrier plazas. The system will get Amtech SunPass equipment for electronic tolling and will feature dedicated ET lanes allowing 30 to 40mph tolling under lane-constrained readers.

During the first month tolls are half-price to encourage people to try the pike.

The whole pike is in the nature of a regional collector-distributor with 10 intermediate interchanges and is expected to garner a lot of its traffic from local movements, though it provides convenient connections for many area residents to I-4. It is claimed that typical time savings of 10 to 15 minutes will be made on longer pike trips as compared with trips currently made using crowded surface arterials.

The terminal I-4 interchanges of TOLL-570 are 23km (14.5mi) apart on the Interstate. Though it is getting increasing business (supermarket and restaurant administration, a large airbag factory) the area is considerably a bedroom community oriented mostly to the Tampa metro area the center of which is just 52km (32mi) west. It is 86km (54mi) from the center of Orlando but within easy commuting distance of the southern part of the Orlando metro area. Disney World is just 55km (34mi) northeast of Lakeland on I-4. Indeed the Tampa and Orlando areas, though 137km (85mi) apart center to center, are increasingly integrated economically. I-4 the backbone highway is being widened from 2x2 to 2x3 along its whole length coast to coast and in places to 2x4 (with the inside lanes HOV.)

Polk county, of which Lakeland is the largest city, has 430k pop. Traffic projections (by URS Greiner) for the Polk Pkwy are extremely modest by northeast and west coast standards — 16.5k tolls/day at the west mainline plaza, 3.2k veh at the central plaza and 4k at the eastern plaza in 2002.

Bonds for the project were sold secured against the revenues of the whole Florida system and this project will clearly be a financial drain for some years.

(Contact Sandra Crowe FDOT 941 647 5671)

NOTE STATISTICAL NUTS AT FDOT: If the PP pike uses 5.2m pounds of rebar and if you say this is the equivalent weight of 26 Florida cruise ships (“Polk Parkway Special Issue” 1998 FDOT p3) then you in Florida must have cruise ships of 100 tons average displacement, which proves (1) you have the cutesiest l’il Lilliputian cruise ships in the world, or (2) someone down there needs to take grade 2 arithmetic.