ST. CLOUD, Fla. — Osceola County residents provided their input on the county’s plans for the Sunbridge Parkway Extension Project.

What You Need To Know

  • Osceola County’s Sunbridge Parkway Extension Project aims to serve “as a major north-south divided corridor that will ultimately connect US 192 in Osceola County and State Road 528 in Orange County,” according to Osceola County’s website

  • The Sunbridge Parkway Project is intended to help relieve traffic in Osceola County, address the county’s annual population growth and improve connectivity between Orange and Osceola counties

  • The county reviewed six alternative corridors for the new roadway connection and unveiled its findings to residents during Thursday community meeting

  • Residents skeptical about the impact that some of the proposed alternative corridors will have on their environment and neighborhoods

The Sunbridge Parkway is proposing a new roadway connection between the project’s southern limit from Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway (U.S. 192) to Nova Road (County Road 532), the project’s northern limit. 

The parkway is also expected to provide a four-lane divided roadway which will also be accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

The purpose of the project is to help relieve traffic throughout Osceola County, such as on Narcoossee Road, addressing the county’s population growth and improve connectivity between Osceola and Orange counties.  

As part of the Alternative Corridor Evaluation (ACE) phase, county officials reviewed six different corridor options of varying length for the new roadway connection and revealed its findings to the public during a community meeting Thursday evening.

Residents came in numbers to learn more about the county’s plans and many shared mixed feelings about the proposed corridors’ impacts.

While citizens understand the need for this project, there was more concern about how this will impact their neighborhoods and property values down the line.

It’s a county effort to alleviate traffic that residents in Osceola County say is ludicrous.

To ease this burden, county officials are working with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to identify an alternative corridor for the extension of the Sunbridge Parkway that will give drivers a new roadway connection between Osceola and Orange counties.

“What we see in front of us tonight is not the final answer. This is just the first step in the process and we’re still very early in the alternative corridor evaluation,” says Assistant Director of Transportation & Transit for Osceola County Nicholas Hartley.

Once completed, the proposed roadway would connect drivers north to south, from U.S. 192 in Osceola County to State Road 528 in Orange County.

All this to alleviate increasing traffic throughout Osceola County, such as on Narcoossee Road, address the county’s annual population growth and provide better connectivity between Osceola and Orange counties.

The project is currently in the Alternatives Corridor Evaluation (ACE) phase to determine which corridor would be most beneficial to residents.

Out of the six different corridor options evaluated by county officials and consultants, one was recommended to residents, based on factors like construction costs, stormwater management and the environment.  

Residents voice concern

Even though the project is still in its preliminary phase, residents like Chris King are already concerned. 

He says it takes his children over an hour just to get home from school every day with the school bus.

He believes that this recommended corridor will just make it worse since it connects through Lake Conlin Road and Old Melbourne Highway, which is an already busy intersection.

“It’s an hour so then we’re going to add 20,000 cars on top of that every day, that’s going to be even longer,” says the St. Cloud resident.

Many are skeptical since a preliminary traffic analysis conducted by the county demonstrated that traffic along the recommended corridor could see more than 20,000 cars passing through daily.

A shared sentiment from Diane Knight who has been an Osceola County resident for the past 22 years.

“With the traffic that goes through there right now with the road that comes off which is Botanic, it’s absolutely crazy and ludicrous. So, I can’t imagine by using that alternative,” says Knight.

Timothy Martella moved to St. Cloud from South Florida to settle down into his retirement home just over a year ago.

Since he’s located right off Old Melbourne Highway, where the recommended corridor is supposed to connect through, he says he’s concerned about the impact this project could have on his forever home.  

“It would definitely affect the whole front of my property. So, it is concerning, I have almost an acre of property and like I said I retired a year ago and we made this our retirement home,” says Martella.

But the county wants to reassure residents that nothing is set in stone yet. 

“That’s why we’re looking at some of the corridors that we are. Social, environmental, community impact is part of what we’re considering here tonight,” says Hartley.

Once the ACE phase is complete, the county will begin the Project Development and Environmental study.

According to Hartley, the design phase for the project is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2025 but the county is still on the lookout for a consultant.