PORT ST. LUCIE — The Port St. Lucie City Council has approved the transfer of about seven acres of city-owned land to the Florida Department of Transportation to support the Midway Road widening project and construction of a new partial interchange with Florida's Turnpike.
The property is currently used for drainage and will continue serving that purpose while also accommodating new interchange ramps as part of the project, according to city officials.
Rather than purchasing the land, FDOT and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise agreed to incorporate decorative features into the project, including the city's logo on the bridge mechanically stabilized earth wall and the noise wall.
City officials said the new interchange is intended to provide another Turnpike access point for residents in northern Port St. Lucie. Currently, the closest Turnpike interchanges for that area are at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and State Road 70, also known as Okeechobee Road.
The Midway Road project spans about 1.5 miles and is divided into two segments.
The first segment, from Jenkins Road to Selvitz Road, is under construction. The project is widening the existing two-lane roadway into a four-lane divided road with 7-foot buffered bicycle lanes in both directions, a 12-foot shared-use path on the south side and a 6-foot sidewalk on the north side.
Construction began in April 2024 and is expected to be completed in fall 2026. The estimated construction cost is $24 million.
The second segment, from Glades Cut-Off Road to Jenkins Road, remains in the design phase.
It will also widen Midway Road to four travel lanes and include 10-foot and 12-foot shared-use paths for pedestrians and cyclists. The project also calls for replacing the existing bridge over Florida's Turnpike.
That segment has expanded to include a new partial Turnpike interchange with a northbound off-ramp and a southbound on-ramp. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2027 and be completed by March 2030, with an estimated construction cost of $71.4 million.
According to FDOT, the project is designed to improve safety while expanding opportunities for pedestrian, bicycle and transit travel.
The Glades Cut-Off Road to Jenkins Road segment has also been designated as one of the projects funded through Gov. Ron DeSantis' Moving Florida Forward infrastructure initiative to accelerate congestion relief improvements.