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Get the latest coverage of the 2021 Florida legislative session in Tallahassee from our coverage partners and WUSF.

Florida Toll Road Project Could See Change For Suncoast Parkway

Suncoast Parkway
Steve Newborn
/
WUSF Public Media

It would provide another proposed end point for the Suncoast Parkway extension.

Jefferson County would no longer be the northern end point for a proposed extension of the Suncoast Parkway, under a bill approved unanimously Tuesday by the House Commerce Committee.

The extension of the Suncoast Parkway from Citrus County to Jefferson County was one of three controversial toll-road projects approved by the Legislature in 2019.

The House bill (HB 6059), sponsored by Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, would remove a reference to Jefferson County in the law but doesn’t provide another proposed end point for the Suncoast Parkway extension.

The 2019 law, a priority of then-Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, also calls for building a toll road from Collier County to Polk County and extending Florida’s Turnpike to connect with the Suncoast Parkway.

Shoaf’s bill is moving forward as the Senate has passed a more far-reaching measure (SB 100) that would eliminate the planned toll road between Collier and Polk counties.

The Senate plan also would require state transportation officials to plan a turnpike extension west from Wildwood to the Suncoast Parkway and lay out a route that would weave the Suncoast Parkway north along U.S. 19 to connect with Interstate 10 in Madison County.

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