ORLANDO, Fla. — Details were released Friday about an inter-agency agreement approved by the Central Florida Expressway Authority this week to build a 9-mile toll road through Split Oak Forest.

What You Need To Know

  • The Central Florida Expressway Authority approved an inter-agency agreement on Thursday to build a 9-mile toll road through Split Oak Forest

  • The company says it will begin major design work by early next year

  • Once complete, officials said construction will begin

The agreement is between CFX, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Osceola County.

The toll road — known as the Osceola Parkway Extension — would connect State Road 417 near Boggy Creek in Orange County, to Cyrils Drive in Osceola County.

The project was approved by the FWC on May 1, and will affect 160 acres of Split Oak Forest — 60 acres directly and 100 acres indirectly.

Developers offered about 1,500 acres of land in exchange for approval of the expressway, but advocates for the protected forest say the road would damage it beyond repair. 

Now that the agreement is approved, the next steps include a formal agreement that can take months to complete. Then CFX will begin major design work by early next year, which will take about two years. After that, construction will begin.

Longtime Lake Ajay Village resident Angela Phillips was in favor of building the toll road, saying this week’s CFX vote brings the area a step closer to mitigating heavy traffic on Narcoossee Road, particularly during school times.

“The more construction, the more building, and it seems to be there’s going to be more and more we have to have some relief for Narcoossee Road,” said Phillips, who is the president of the Lake Ajay Village HOA. “So this toll road will help some.”

Pointing on a map, Phillips showed Spectrum News developments along Narcoossee Road in Orange and Osceola counties that have increased over the years. She said the process to finally get approval for the toll road has been exhausting.

“We’ve said all we can say,” Phillips said. “We’ve supported one idea from the beginning, so we’re just kind of burnt out.”

CFX officials said the Osceola Parkway Extension is unique because there is no viable alternative to building the road without touching conservation land.

Friends of Split Oak Forest President Valerie Anderson said she believes CFX is targeting the forest because it allows them a cheap and easy right of way for the Osceola Parkway Extension. She said the land should be preserved.

 “Friends of Split Oak Forest and many other conservation groups throughout the state don’t support the use of conservation land for toll roads,” Anderson said.

She said growth should be planned for, but was concerned about the direct impacts the decision will have on the forest.

“Like roadkill, road noise, pollution and just the habitat that would be destroyed by the roadway,” she said.

Phillips said she understands why many are against building the road through Split Oak Forest, but argued that the project has to get done because the area will continue to grow.

“The development is going to happen and the people are coming, so there has to be kind of some sort of exchange,” she said.

Anderson disagreed, saying the project “sets a bad precedent for land development and conservation in the future.”

The entire 9-mile project will be built out in phases, with an expected completion in 2033.