Innovation Way
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The Innovation Way Corridor is a development area planned for
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. The planned corridor is to stretch south from the
University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...
to International Corporate Park, then West towards the Lake Nona area and finally ending at the
Orlando International Airport Orlando International Airport is the primary international airport located southeast of downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2024, it had 57,211,628 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and ninth busiest airport in the United St ...
. At the heart of this development plan is the expansion and extension of Alafaya Trail ( SR 434) south from Avalon Park to SR 528 running between the county landfill and the OUC Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center, then continuing through International Corporate Park before it curves west towards the Lake Nona area and the airport. The entire corridor is planned to be approximately long. The heart of the planned project is to create a technological and business corridor linking the University of Central Florida to the Orlando International Airport.


Development


Phase 1

Phase I of the Innovation Way project is the extension of Alafaya Trail from Avalon Park to SR 528. The project as designed will include a 4-lane roadway complete with sidewalks and an on-road bike path and will cover a total distance of . The total projected cost is $30,098,953.25 and is set to begin in August 2006 with a completion date of December 2008. Phase 1 has been completed just under 1.5 years over schedule


Phase 2

Constructed approximately one-half mile north of SR 528, to Monument Parkway, and one mile south of SR 528. It will tie in with a re-aligned section of Aerospace Parkway. This included a new alignment of Innovation Way over SR 528 and five new ramps to accommodate traffic movements to and from SR 528. This project also involved the removal of the existing SR 528/International Corporate Park Boulevard interchange. Construction on the $62 million project began in mid 2016 and finished in mid 2018.


Phase 3 and beyond

To further improve connectivity to State Road 528 and to accommodate the further development of the Innovation Way Corridor, a new interchange between SR 528 and Innovation Way is in the works. Final design began in June 2021, and will be in general accordance with the Roadway Conceptual Analysis completed in 2015. This project will require additional right-of-way for roadway and storm water improvements during Construction from Wewahootee Road to John Wycliff Boulevard as a four-lane divided roadway. A shared-used path is located on both the north and south side of the roadway. The project will incorporate drainage improvements, lighting, and landscaping along the roadway corridor.


Project difficulties


International Corporate Park

A key cornerstone to the Innovation Way plan was to bring the UCF Medical Institute and the Burnham Institute to the International Corporate Park development, but both of those facilities have decided to move closer to the Lake Nona area. Due to the loss of these two facilities, the developers of the International Corporate Park have floated the idea that warehouses and corporate distribution centers would generate more profit than High Tech jobs, 3,500 homes, and town center, as originally planned. The International Corporate Park area is already zoned for of industrial warehouses, which according to the developers would now be much more profitable than building the residential sections of the plan in a declining housing market. In late November 2006 the International Corporate Park developers sent a letter to Orange County canceling a planned meeting on how to move forward with the Innovation Way plans and they have claimed there is a waiting list of industrial buyers to purchase warehouse space on their property. In March 2006 a public/private agreement was approved between the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) and the developers of the International Corporate Park (ICP). Then, the property owned by ICP went through a change in ownership. The new owner, Suburban Land Reserve, Inc. (SLR) is working on a new agreement between Orange County Board of County Commissioners and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.


Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority (now Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX))

In mid-2006 the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority canceled funding to an interchange on SR 528 which would have connected to the Innovation Way developments. The Expressway Authority has suggested toll increases to pay for this and other projects but has been unable to do so due to recent scandals and inconsistencies with the agency's handling of toll revenue.Road agency wants toll hike
" ''
The Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...
.'' Retrieved on December 18, 2006. In 2014 OOCEA was disbanded and reorganized into the new
Central Florida Expressway Authority The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) is a highway authority responsible for construction, maintenance and operation of toll roads in five counties in the Greater Orlando area (specifically Lake County, FL, Lake, Orange County, FL, Ora ...
which cleared the way for Innovation Way to continue infrastructure development.


See also

* Avalon Park, Florida *
Orange County, Florida Orange County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,429,908, making it the fifth-most populous county in Florida and the List of ...
*
University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...
* Central Florida Research Park *
Orlando International Airport Orlando International Airport is the primary international airport located southeast of downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2024, it had 57,211,628 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and ninth busiest airport in the United St ...


References


External links


Avalon Park Official Website


''Orlando Business Journal'' {{University of Central Florida University of Central Florida Geography of Orange County, Florida Proposed state highways in the United States Transportation in Orange County, Florida