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Orlando, FL – August
2024 / NewsmakerAlert: The Central
Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) announces the publishing of “The
River and The Road,” a story documenting the process, collaboration
and partnership between the unlikeliest of allies who put the common good
above competing interests to complete the last 25 miles of the metro Orlando
regional beltway through a vast and fragile ecosystem.
Written by former veteran
transportation reporter for The Orlando Sentinel Dan
Tracy, the 93-page book artfully communicates how expressways can be
built with consensus and stewardship of their communities.
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“Together they have set
an ambitious sustainability program, which was not much more than a whisper
at the authority a year ago…My hope with this book is that readers might
better appreciate the human side of how megaroads are planned and built,
at least here in Central Florida,” said Tracy in the book’s prologue.
The $1.6 billion Wekiva Parkway
was seven decades in the making as the last, most complicated, and expensive
link of the beltway located northwest of downtown Orlando. The award-winning
project has earned national and international accolades for a highly sensitive
approach in the planning, design and construction of the parkway, which
include:
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Setting aside 3,400 acres for
conservation
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Planning for 1.5 miles of wildlife
bridges with 7,900 feet of safe passage for animals
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10 miles of multi-use trails
connecting to a statewide trail system
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Designing a three-deck, 360-foot
bridge over the river without construction or piers touching the water
The story of preservation and
expansion focuses on the Wekiva River, a major water recharge area for
Central Florida. The book contains scenic photographs of the river and
candid narratives in print and video from two toll agencies, river protection
activists, more than 50,000 residents, and local and state officials.
“The River and The Road”
is available digitally to the public on the Central Florida Expressway
Authority website Wekiva
Parkway Book page.
About the Central Florida
Expressway Authority
The Central
Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) is an independent agency of the
State of Florida that operates and maintains a regional network of expressways
for 3 million residents of Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole
counties and more than 75 million annual visitors to Central Florida. CFX’s
125-centerline mile, user- funded system includes 73 interchanges, 14 mainline
toll plazas, 5 mainline gantries, 76 ramp toll plazas and 343 bridges.
On average, more than 1.3 million toll transactions are recorded daily,
nearly 90 percent of them electronically. CFX operates E-PASS, the first
electronic toll collection system in Florida, with more than one million
E-PASS accounts. For more information, visit www.CFXway.com.
Media Contact:
Brian
Hutchings
Manager of Community Engagement
407-413-2391
LinkedIn
Digital Copy Here:
Issuu.com/cfxway/docs/the_river_and_the_road_digital_version |
