ORLANDO

The regional planning organization of the Orlando area termed MetroPlan has approved the new Wekiva Parkway tollroad. Approval was regarded as more than a formality since the project was seen by some as taking money that has better uses. However the vote in favor was 17 to 2 according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The project is in a lightly developed northern section of the metro area but it will complete  belt route add well as providing improved mobility east-west across the north of the built-up area.

All at a high cost however of $1.7b for 25 miles.

Under the latest agreement between Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) and Florida DOT/Turnpike the troubled regional authority will build just two of eight segments. The other six will be a state responsibility. And in order to get the state to take on the project OOCEA is agreeing to accelerate payments on an old loan from the state - called in the obscure language of these deals a 'lease purchase agreement' with the state.

Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority's executive director, Mike Snyder brought forward his departure date to December 29 under pressure from area mayor Teresa Jacobs. Meeting today the 5-person board of directors accepted his resignation. He'll get three months severance pay of just under $82k plus an annual pension of $70k. He turns 65 on March 7 next year and initially proposed to stay until then.

Mike Snyder executive director of the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority says he's resigning effective March 7 next, his 65th birthday. His departure had been loudly called for by Teresa Jacobs, the mayor of Orlando and another board member. That meant at least two of the five person board were likely to vote for his ouster.

Although only 40, Joe Orlando seems to have been at the New Jersey Turnpike forever. Now he has joined the "marketing/communications" firm Winning Strategies in Newark as a VP.

Just weeks after OOCEA, the Orlando toller, defeated a move at the state legislature by Florida Turnpike to dismantle it and take over its network of tollroads in central Florida, all is apparently forgiven. The chair of the OOCEA Walter Ketcham announced before the holiday break that the state Turnpike had offered what he called a "meaningful partnership toward making the Wekiva Parkway a reality."

Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) is raising about $300m bond money for several projects:

- $75m toward work extending the Apopka Expressway another 5 miles (8km) in the northwest

Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) gets a new chairman, Walter Ketcham, as mayor Rich Crotty steps down. Ketcham, 62, has been a member of the board for less than a year. He is a trial lawyer who says he does "insurance defense, automobile liability, products liability, personal injury, dental malpractice, subrogation, wrongful death, municipal and governmental law, amusement park liability and legal malpractice."

Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) is likely to follow Florida's Turnpike in offering sticker-tag transponders free. They have already been giving away limited numbers of the E-PASS Minis - as they are called - in special promotions. Staff have proposed free issue of sticker tags be regularized and the board of the authority is expected to formally endorse the proposal when they meet Jan 27.

November 22 and 23 Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) opened 1.4km (0.86 miles) of two extra lanes eastbound on the FL408 East-West Expressway over the Lake Underhill Bridge between Conway Rd to Crystal Lake Drive. This links two recently widened segments either side eliminating a "pinch point".