SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Emotions ran high in Seminole County Thursday evening, where some residents want leaders to stop a proposed toll road.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority introduced plans for the road route that will connect the SR 417 to the Orlando Sanford International Airport.
If approved, it would start at the 417 near the Lake Jesup Toll Plaza and run north of East Lake Mary Boulevard, ending right at the Orlando Sanford International Airport entrance.
CFX says the toll road is needed because of growing demand at the airport and increased traffic around it.
“I’ve been through that intersection that they’re going to be bypassing, and it’s a nightmare,” said Rebecca Burke to Channel 9.
“This traffic we moved here and it’s nothing like it is now,” said Brian VanDusen.
It’s the traffic relief some Seminole County drivers have been waiting for on East Lake Mary Boulevard.
Despite Burke and VanDusen noting the increased traffic, the proposed road will cost them more than just the toll.
The route will go straight through VanDusen’s yard.
If CFX approves the 2A route, Burke will lose her home. Last year, she lost her husband.
Burke says when she learned the project would wipe out her home, it felt like a gut punch.
22 years ago this month, Burke and her husband moved their house built in the 1860s a mile and a half down the road to the current plot of land.
She described the years of renovations she and her husband poured into the home and the generations of memories in the house.
But despite the pain of potentially losing their homes, VanDusen and Burke say they’ve found peace.
“I’ve accepted it,” VanDusen said.
“I’m at a point where if the legacy ends with me, then I feel like I’m at peace with that,” Burke said. “I see where my, my property would be the most direct route to the airport, you know, to that, for that extension. That’s the rational side of me. The emotional side would be please go somewhere else or shelve it,” Burke said.
Both Burke and VanDusen attended a public hearing Thursday evening at the Sanford Civic Center, along with dozens of others. The majority of attendees voiced their reasons for being against the toll road. Many said the 2A route will affect home values and negatively impact the environment.
CFX says the route is the shortest and most direct route out of all its options, and it has the lowest direct impact to the wetlands.
“This project, if it’s approved to construction, will really help alleviate some of the bad traffic conditions on East Lake Mary Boulevard, Ronald Reagan Boulevard and many of the side streets,” said Brian Hutchings, Manager of Community Engagement, Central Florida Expressway Authority.
CFX says by 2050, this connector could remove 17,000 vehicles per day off East Lake Mary Boulevard.
According to CFX, the road is estimated to cost more than $200 million to construct.
“It’s the taxpayers paying to help the Sanford Airport and that’s not what O want my tax money spent on,” said Seminole county resident Dante Morone, “It’s the people in the suits that want to come and carve up a highway connector right through our backyards.”
Members of the public who did not speak at the public hearing on Thursday still have a chance to voice their opinion by submitting written comments here.
CFX will present the route to the board for a vote in October.
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