Wekiva Parkway
State Road 429 (SR 429), also known as the Daniel Webster Western Beltway, or Western Expressway, is a limited-access toll road built and maintained by the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). It currently extends 25 miles (40 km) from U.S. Highway 192 (State Road 530), near Walt Disney World, north to U.S. Highway 441 (State Road 500/Orange Blossom Trail), in Apopka. SR 429 was originally planned as a western half of State Road 417.
Section A is the original 10.6-mile section from Florida's Turnpike in Ocoee, to US 441 in Apopka. The road itself was finished in July 2000, temporarily ending at SR 50, and the interchange with Florida's Turnpike, featuring the highest ramp in the Orlando area, was completed in February 2001. SR 429 was originally planned to continue north, but because the land needed for the SR 429 right of way was not secured ahead of time, new housing was developed north of the current SR 429/U.S. 441 intersection. This has forced a change in plans for the extension of SR 429. When the Apopka Bypass is built, SR 429 will be rerouted onto the west part of the bypass, and current SR 429 north of the bypass will be SR 451 (originally planned as SR 429A). This is because Section B will connect to the west end of the Apopka Bypass rather than the current end of SR 429. SR 451 will basically become a large entrance/exit ramp for SR 429.
Section B, now also known as the Wekiva Parkway, which would connect SR 429's future north end at US 441 to I-4 in Sanford, has been under debate for over a decade because its planned corridor is complicated by the ecologically-fragile Wekiva River basin and shifting support from Lake County. In 2004, an agreement was reached for its completion. Its exact route and schedule for construction are still unclear, but it is supposed to be built largely as a long causeway with a limited number of exits to better control development in the region. One of the plans would link SR 429 with SR 417, creating a continuous beltway north of Orlando; the others would involve a short drive on I-4 or its collector/distributor roads to reach SR 417.
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