Florida Turnpike Gets New HQ

Tallahassee is the most wierdly located state capital in the US – way up in the northwest panhandle of the state, more accessible to Alabamans and Georgians, even Mississippians than it is to most Floridians. Montgomery AL and Atlanta GA are closer to the FL capital than Orlando and Tampa. And the largest city of the state, Miami is 800km (500mi) away, closer to Havana Cuba and the Bahamas than to its state capital. Amazing what politicians will do...

Florida’s Turnpike headquarters staff, at least, are moving out of this odd capital Tallahassee to a new head office complex being built next to the Turkey Lake service plaza on the mainline of the Turnpike in Orlando FL just a ways up from the IC with I-4. This will put them closer to the center of the state and right on the turnpike. Turkey Lake is about 8mi southwest of the center of Orlando and well connected to the Orlando turnpike system and accessible to the CBD and airport.

The proximity to the turnpike and to future projects will reduce traveling time and expense and enhance efficiency of management, they say. They’re being housed in style in a $27m 99k sq ft 3 story HQ building a 22k sq ft operations center and similar sized police building plus workshop. Construction began in June and is expected complete by end of 2000. An artist’s rendition of the complex shows a nice row of palm trees out front but no turkeys swimming in their lake. Turkeys do swim in Florida, we’re assured by a Turnpike staffer, otherwise why would they name a lake after them?