“The River and The Road” is a book about the people, planning, and pride behind the Wekiva Parkway, the last 25 miles of the 125-mile Central Florida beltway, which supports the movement of 2.75 million residents and 75 million visitors annually.

Why is a 25-mile toll road worthy of a coffee table book? “The River and The Road” is a story rarely told about how the unlikeliest of allies put the common good above competing interests to complete the regional beltway through a vast and fragile ecosystem that is home to a treasured river, abundant wildlife, and acts as a major water recharge area for Central Florida.

Located northwest of downtown Orlando, the $1.6 billion Wekiva Parkway was seven decades in the making as the last, most complicated, and expensive link of the beltway. The expressway project has earned the mutual admiration of worldwide transportation planners, road builders, regional environmentalists, and residents because of a highly sensitive approach to its planning, design, and construction to protect the vital ecosystem.

The book’s main character is the Wekiva River with countless supporting characters including two toll agencies, river protection activists, more than 50,000 residents, and dozens of local and state officials including a Florida Governor and Senate President.

Written by Dan Tracy, a veteran transportation reporter for The Orlando Sentinel, the book artfully communicates through the voices of key people involved in pioneering how expressways can be built with consensus and stewardship of their communities.

Hear more from the people behind the Wekiva Parkway below:
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