History
The Polk Parkway was originally conceived in the 1950s as a circumferential route around Lakeland, and after several delays in planning due to funding shortfalls, it was revived as the Imperial Parkway by the Polk County Commission in 1986. Due to the delays, a proposal in the 1970s/1980s that would have connected the parkway with the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway never came to fruition. In the spring of 1990, the Florida Legislature led by Senate leader and Winter Haven resident Bob Crawford, incorporated the Polk Parkway into the Turnpike Expansion Program, a part of Senate Bill 1316.
The Parkway's groundbreaking was on January 25, 1996. The western 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of the Parkway opened to traffic on August 9, 1998. The central section, approximately 10 miles (16 km) in length, opened to traffic on 2 August 1999. The easternmost 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of road opened to traffic on 12 December 1999, completing the highway at a cost of $490 million.
In the late summer of 2009, the Turnpike began widening the Polk Parkway from Interstate 4 at Polk City south to Pace Road. This $48 million design-build project includes construction of a SunPass-only interchange at Pace Road (exit 23), featuring a modified cloverleaf design, with a 25 cent toll for the to-and-from the east (north) movement. The to-and-from the west (south) movement is not tolled as there is a mainline plaza to the west where the toll will be collected. The interchange opened on November 10, 2011, providing access to the new Florida Polytechnic University campus. The project is a public-private partnership between the Florida Department of Transportation—Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, USF Polytechnic, the Polk County Board of County Commissioners and The Williams Company.
The 1998 Florida Legislature designated the western 7 miles (11 km) of the Polk Parkway (between Interstate 4 and South Florida Avenue (State Road 37)) as the James Henry Mills Medal of Honor Parkway. Mills was the only native of Polk County to receive a medal of honor in World War II, in recognition of his heroic actions in Cisterna, Italy.
Read more about this topic: Florida State Road 570
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