The Heartland Parkway is a proposed toll road

Toll road

A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...

 running from Polk County

Polk County, Florida

Polk County is located in central Florida between the Tampa Bay and Greater Orlando metropolitan areas. The county was established by the state government in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War and named after former United States president James K. Polk. The county seat is Bartow and its...

 in central Florida to the Fort Myers

Fort Myers, Florida

Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....

–Naples

Naples, Florida

Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...

 area of southwest Florida, to be operated by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise is a business unit of the Florida Department of Transportation , employing private sector business practices to operate its 460-mile system of limited-access toll highways for the benefit of Florida's traveling public...

. The proposed toll road would run approximately 110–150 mi (177–241.4 ) through rural portions of Polk, Hardee, Highlands, DeSoto, Glades, Lee, and possibly Collier counties. With cost estimates ranging from $3–8 billion, support for the construction of the parkway has ebbed and flowed. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...

 was a proponent of this parkway, but his successor, governor Charlie Crist

Charlie Crist

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...

 never expressed interest in its creation.

Need

Florida is prone to hurricanes, and many widening projects and proposed highway corridors have focused on the need to facilitate large volumes of traffic away from the coast. At the present time, only Alligator Alley

Alligator Alley

Alligator Alley is a section of Interstate 75 and State Road 84 extending from Naples on the west coast of Florida to Weston on the east...

 and several two-lane rural roads are able to transport the millions of people living in Collier, Lee, and Charlotte counties away from the coast.

Currently, the only viable north-south trucking route away from the coast is US Highway 27

U.S. Route 27 in Florida

U.S. Route 27 in Florida is a north–south United States Highway. It runs from the South Florida Metropolitan Area northwest to the Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area. Throughout the state, US 27 has been designated the Claude Pepper Memorial Highway by the Florida State Legislature...

. In Polk County, that highway is seen as the deadliest road in the county in part due to the large volume of truck traffic and high speeds. Its popularity amongst truckers stems from its intersections with several major highways and its avoidance of major cities. The Florida Department of Transportation

Florida Department of Transportation

The Florida Department of Transportation is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of the Florida State Road Department...

 claims that truck traffic in Florida will double by the year 2020.

The Heartland Environmental Agricultural Rural Task Force (HEART), an organization representing landowners pushing for the construction of the Heartland Parkway, has put forth some studies which they believe necessitate the construction of such a parkway.

• The total volume of freight moving to, from, and within Florida is anticipated to grow from 847 million tons to 1.5 billion tons over the next 25 years.
• The population growth of Florida is projected to increase south of Interstate 4
  Interstate 4
  Interstate 4 is a intrastate Highway located entirely within the state of Florida, United States. It goes from Interstate 275 in Tampa, Florida to Interstate 95 at Daytona Beach, Florida . It also has the Florida Department of Transportation designation of State Road 400, but only a small...
  
   by six million people over the next 25 years.
• Of that, an estimated 1.5 million people are expected to move into the Heartland Corridor Region (Hendry, Glades, Highlands, DeSoto, Hardee, Northeast Collier and Polk counties).
• In the next 25 years, the number of out-of-state and international visitors to Florida is anticipated to grow from 84 million to 146 million visitors per year.

Criticism

Criticism for the proposed parkway has largely stemmed from concern for the environmentally sensitive areas the parkway would run though, and concern that rural areas it would traverse would be exploited by developers. Such criticism was discussed prior to the construction of the Suncoast Parkway, where fencing and special underpasses were constructed to protect wildlife and limited exits were constructed to deter exploitation by developers.