OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Construction is underway on a roughly $36 million road project designed to improve travel through southern Osceola County.
The Cross Prairie Parkway Connector will create a 1.6-mile, four-lane connection between Nolte Road and the C-31 Canal.
The project includes a bridge, bike lanes, sidewalks, a multiuse path, drainage improvements, streetlights, landscaping and a new traffic signal at Nolte Road.
County leaders said Cross Prairie Parkway serves residents in St. Cloud, Kissimmee and southern Osceola County. However, there is currently no direct link between the corridor’s northern and southern sections.
Officials said that gap has contributed to traffic delays and public safety concerns because residents and emergency responders must use alternate routes.
“One of the issues we’re having is the traffic,” Osceola County resident Rafael Vargas said.
Vargas has lived in the Tohoqua Reserve neighborhood for about a year and a half. He said the missing connection complicates his trips to visit his daughter in Miami.
“We have to go five miles to Cross Prairie at the end,” Vargas said. “Get on the Turnpike, then cross five miles and go this way.”
He expects the new connector to make those trips much easier.
“With this open, it’ll be a breeze to get right through here,” Vargas said. “I won’t have to go all the way down that way. It’ll be nice.”
County officials said the completed roadway should reduce congestion, shorten travel times and provide emergency responders with a more direct route through the area.
Construction is expected to be completed by summer 2028.
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