The Central Florida Expressway Authority unanimously passed on Thursday a proposal to spend millions of dollars to protect the environment surrounding the controversial Split Oak Forest toll road project.

The proposed resolution has safeguards for the project, which will put a toll road through Split Oak Forest.

The $13 million plan has several measures added to protect the environment. Some of those measures include:

• prohibiting future road widening
• elevating parts of the toll road
• and including some wildlife crossings

The expansion is designed to relieve traffic congestion in the rapidly growing Lake Nona area.  But critics have raised environmental concerns, and say allowing the expansion through the Split Oak Forest allows a dangerous precedent for other nature conservation areas.

Some of the languages in the resolution will be “cleaned up”, but the resolution would require the agency to elevate parts of the toll road, prohibit a widening of the road in the future, and include wildlife crossings and several other measures to protect the environment. 

CFX board member and Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine said he’s been working on the environmental measures for a year and a half, and is bringing them forward as the project is reaching the final stages of approval.

While CFX officials said this is their way to protect the forest, Friends of Split Oak's Valerie Anderson said conservation easements and hiking trails getting developed are just not enough.  

“To go around Split Oak, it would cost them $100 million, so basically they're getting to choose how much they pay and they get their road through Split Oak, and they get to pay $87 million dollars less than if they would have to, to go around,” she said.

Anderson said she just hopes to one day be able to enjoy Split Oak with her wife and future children in its natural state, and without the buzzing of cars.

“I want Split Oak unharmed," she said. "I want the whole thing protected like it was supposed to be when it was originally protected … with all those animals and plants that I care about and I know where they are, for them to just be safe."

While the project has critics, others are looking forward to relief the expansion could bring from growing traffic congestion in the Lake Nona area.  Pedro Espinal, who works at Jaca’s Barber Shop off Narcoosse Road, says traffic congestion on Narcoossee often prevents customers from getting to haircut appointments on time.

“The area’s growing so everyday we have more construction, more people moving into the area,” said Espinal.  “So if it takes that to alleviate and have better traffic then it’s going to be all worth it.”

The environmental safeguards proposed would cost about $13 million over the course of thirty years.