Harris Harris Bauerle Sharma

ZEPHYRHILLS — Longtime Zephyrhills resident Lora Morrison saw the signs as she was driving by First Church of the Nazarene on 12th Street Thursday night and decided to stop. Inside was an open house and public hearing for Florida Department of Transportation’s U.S. 301 widening project, and she wanted her voice to be heard. Read more »

More than 100 residents — hungry for information on the proposed Central Polk Parkway — heard a presentation from, and discussed specifics with, officials from the Florida Department of Transportation Monday at the W.H. Stuart Conference Center in Bartow. Read more »

By Dan Tracy, ORLANDO SENTINEL

August 27, 2010

The $1.8 billion Wekiva Parkway, the last link in the long-sought beltway around Metro Orlando, has never been closer to being built — a prospect that has road builders and motorists cheering. Read more »

For a while now, crazy situations, hunger pangs and frustrating hours behind the wheel have been making life slightly miserable for Florida commuter Joe Panyanouvong. The attorney who regularly makes the 84-mile journey between Orlando and Tampa on Interstate 4 is ready for a solution. Read more »

The Seminole County has approved a plan that would outsource control over a major road construction project.

The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority will design, construct and then place tolls on the Wekiva Parkway.

Read more »

Metro Orlando’s main road-building agency is expected to approve today the first steps toward building the final leg of a long-sought Central Florida beltway.

The board likely will decide today to borrow $300 million to start design of that missing link, called the Wekiva Parkway, as well as to widen the area’s most popular toll road. Read more »

Taking a calculated risk that Florida’s economy will be stronger in years ahead, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed the Legislature’s ill-advised hijacking of transportation funds.

The move will save construction jobs and probably keep some construction companies out of bankruptcy, at a time of unprecedented hardship for the building industry. Read more »

Florida has received $66.6 million in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a brand new high speed rail system between Orlando and Tampa. Nearly $80 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants to Florida and four other states for high speed rail development were announced today by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at a regional leadership conference in central Florida. Florida’s first funding installment is part of the $1.25 billion grant to the state announced by the Administration in January. Read more »

Metro Orlando’s road-building agency asked Lake and Seminole counties six months ago for permission to construct a tolled highway in their jurisdictions.

The Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority is still waiting for a reply. Read more »

Dwindling state tax dollars are postponing or scrapping nearly $119 million worth of road improvements in Central Florida, including extra lanes to a stretch of traffic-clogged Interstate 4 through downtown Orlando.

But the planned $1.2 billion SunRail commuter train remains on schedule. Read more »