Poinciana Parkway Design-Build

Connecting Communities while Protecting Natural Habitats

Spanning west across 3,500 acres of swampland, the parkway is part of a new transportation corridor. Image copyright Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce. Chris Lee, Greenlando Consulting, photographer.

In response to varying depths of load-bearing geotechnical materials, we ordered piles of different lengths with spliced ends that allowed us to attach and drive them 60 to 180 feet underground.

Our permits and designs anticipate an eventual four-lane expansion from the current two. Image copyright Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce. Chris Lee, Greenlando Consulting, photographer.

The bridge has more than 60 spans ranging in elevation from eight to 25 feet and nearly 100 feet long.

Concrete was chosen as the bridge material because the swamp's tannic acid would have corroded steel without regular treatment.

By elevating the preceding and proceeding roadways by five feet, traffic should only be minimally impacted by heavy rainfall.

The parkway is now the primary hurricane evacuation route and will improve emergency response to the community.

We sponsored and ran in the Poinciana Parkway 5k to commemorate the parkway's grand opening in the spring of 2016.

Client/Owner: Osceola County Expressway Authority
Location: Kissimmee, FL
Services: Engineering, Environmental, Planning, Consulting, and Advisory, Geospatial, Mapping, and Survey
Markets: Transportation

Mileage: 10 miles
Cost: $68.8 million
Completed: 2016
Region: Southeast

A retirement community founded in the 1960s, Poinciana’s population increase over the past two decades caused one of the worst small-city commutes in the country. The 10-mile Poinciana Parkway is the first link to a limited access toll network throughout Osceola County. It’s a key northern transportation corridor with access to regional transportation networks; theme parks; and metro Orlando’s employment, shopping, and entertainment markets.

Originally proposed in the 1990s, parkway development was halted during the recession. Design was made more difficult in later years when Reedy Creek Swamp was reclaimed as a mitigation bank. To adhere to the new environmental requirements, we designed a 6,200-foot reinforced concrete bridge over the mitigation bank with a specially designed arc that allows sunlight to reach ecosystems underneath the superstructure. We advocated for the use of low-pressure, segmented barges during construction and carefully monitored silt barriers to minimally impact the fragile environment.

3,500

acres of swampland

60+

spans