It would be a sort of Super Polk Parkway - linking the existing Parkway in Lakeland to State Road 60 east of Bartow and Interstate 4 east of U.S. 27.

It amounts to a huge loop - 45 miles or more - around most of the popluated areas of Polk County, which would also, in theory, tie-in to the CSX distribution center the city of Winter Haven is pursuing.

Pie-in-the-sky? That’s certainly possible. But it’s also certaily possible that it could become reality in the next 10-15 years, according to Randy Fox, planning mamager for the Florida Turnpike Authority. 
 
What I’ve just described in the northernmost section of what’s known as the “Heartland Parkway,” a concept for a north-south expressway link between Polk County and Fort Myers. For now, it’s only a concept. But it’s rapidly moving toward something more than that.
A traffic volume study is nearly complete for the entire proposed road, which stretches more than 100 miles and looks roughly like a trident, with the pronged end within Polk County. While not ready to release specific traffic numbers, Fox said that the northern section, the Polk section, is the most immediately viable. “Polk is a high growth area,” he said.

If financing for the section can be worked, potential traffic would justify construction, he said. Under the most optimistic scenario, the Polk loop could become a reality within 10 years, Fox said.

However, of course, that’s a giant if. A rough estimate of costs for the Polk section exceeds $1 billion. Getting it built, in addition to government approvals, would require a patchwork funding arrangement involving tolls, governments at all levels and land contributions from property owners as well as other financial tools, Fox said.

In any event, stay tuned. We’ll be writing much more about the Heartland Parkway in the near and ongoing future.

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