The Central Florida Expressway Authority public meeting to discuss the feasibility of four proposed toll roads in Polk, Osceola and Orange counties has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Poinciana Community Center, 445 Marigold Ave., Poinciana.
The meeting will be an open house format. Project maps will be set up and consultants and staff will be available to answer questions.
The four projects, if completed, would form a beltway around Kissimmee and St. Cloud similar to the beltway around Orlando formed by two other toll roads that feed to and from Interstate 4.
The projects have raised environmental questions because the proposed routes would bisect undeveloped habitat containing a number of protected species. Some proposed routes would also run near existing conservation areas, possibly making prescribed fire more difficult because of increase smoke management restrictions and cutting off corridors and disrupting regional migrations because of additional lighting and noise.
There has also been skepticism about the need for some of the new roads other than interest in developing more urban sprawl at new interchanges as has occurred along SR 417, the so-called “Greenway.”