Florida Turnpike

Plans for a Polk County tollway drew criticism earlier this year. But public opinion — and the Florida Department of Transportation's evaluations — led to a new route.

The project is expected to start next year and is part of a larger plan to expand the Turnpike in parts of South Florida.

Transponder users will receive 50 percent credits each month they record 35 or more toll-road trips. The financial ratings agency wonders what will happen when the program ends,

The decision means state transportation planners will focus on expanding Interstate 75 north of where the turnpike now ends.

Residents say the Florida Department of Transportation should widen Interstate 75 instead of creating a new toll road from Wildwood to U.S. 19 with all its impacts on the environment and rural communities.

Royal is a historically Black rural and agricultural community — with a tradition of property ownership in 40-acre and 80-acre land grants passed down from generation to generation. In Royal, the family’s land ownership is everything.

Commissioners will ask the Florida Department of Transportation saying to remove three of the routes recommended for expanding the turnpike from where it now ends at Interstate 75 in Wildwood.

Residents in surrounding counties have expressed fears of land loss and environmental damage.

The Northern Turnpike Extension, a proposed project that would expand the road, could run through Royal, among other areas of Citrus, Levy, Marion and Sumter counties.

One resident said the Florida Department of Transportation is "making a billion dollars" off the purchase of land in the community, "and they don’t give us chump change.”

Four separate proposals would extend the Florida Turnpike through rural land in Citrus, Levy, Marion and Sumter counties.

The state Department of Transportation held a "kick-off" public meeting on plans to extend the Florida Turnpike north.