Travel the Polk Parkway between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.? Get ready for closures this week
If you often travel the Polk Parkway between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., get ready for several lane closures and a complete closure of eastbound traffic at U.S. 98 South over the next week, starting Sunday night.
The closures are part of a Florida Department of Transportation project to convert an 18-mile stretch of the parkway to electronic toll collection between the western junction with I-4 and Old Dixie Highway, between Lakeland and Auburndale.
The $31.6 million project is building three new toll gantries a milepost 8, milepost 13 and milepost 15.5, replacing cash collection plazas with electronic gantries and demolishing two of the existing mainline plazas, which stretch across the full width of the highway.
Starting Sunday night and running through Thursday, all eastbound lanes of the parkway will be closed at U.S. 98 South from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Drivers wishing to continue east will be detoured off the parkway at U.S. 98, south to Winter Lake Road, then east on Winter Lake until they reach the next eastbound onramp (just west of Thornhill Road).
The project will also bring east and westbound single-lane closures between Florida Avenue and Lakeland Highlands Road from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday night through Thursday. Westbound traffic between Winter Lake Road and U.S. 98 South will be reduced to one lane during the same times.
Road widening and resurfacing
In addition to the toll-plaza project, the Polk Parkway is undergoing a $61.2 million widening and road resurfacing project. The parkway is being widened from Old Dixie Highway to just south of Pace Road, and the existing lanes between U.S. 92 and I-4 are being resurfaced.
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The project will reduce east and westbound traffic to one lane between U.S. 92 and Pace Road from 9 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday and from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday night through Thursday morning. There will be intermittent shoulder closures on the same stretch from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
East and westbound traffic on Old Dixie Highway (under the Polk Parkway) and Braddock Road (over the parkway) will experience intermittent single-lane closures from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for resurfacing. Southbound Berkley Road at Braddock Road will see the same.
Bridge painting project
Seven Polk Parkway bridges are being repainted and cleaned to prolong their life.
As part of this project, the eastbound exit ramp onto Harden Boulevard will be closed from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday morning.
Drivers will experience east and westbound single-lane closures between Waring Road and Florida Avenue from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and a continuous shoulder closure on the same stretch of road from 7 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Friday.
Central Polk Parkway construction
Construction work on the new Central Polk Parkway will cause east and westbound single-lane closures of the parkway between DeCastro Road and just south of U.S. 92 from 9 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday and from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Several closures will affect Polk Parkway travelers this week
