LAKE COUNTY, Fla – During its last meeting, the Lake County Commission approved the funding needed to begin construction on Hartwood Marsh Road in 2026.
The plan calls for widening Hartwood Marsh from two lanes to four lanes, stretching from Regency Hills Drive down to Highway 27.
Residents and daily commuters who rely on this road have awaited the expansion for years.
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Clermont resident Vincent Niemiec is overjoyed.
“We’ve been waiting years and years,” Niemiec said. I’ve been advocating for this road for over eight years now and it’s like a Christmas present early to us, the entire community,” he said.
[PAST COVERAGE: Lake County commissioners explore $12M loan for Hartwood Marsh improvements]
Niemiec has attended numerous county commission meetings to emphasize the urgency of completing the project.
“I felt like not just me, but all the surrounding communities — it’s a great accomplishment. They all chipped in, they all gave me support,” Niemiec said.
Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks described the upcoming construction as a collective relief for South Lake County residents.
“There’s some relief on the horizon for that stretch of road that I know has been a problem for so many years,” Parks said.
Parks said initially they’re using a combination of money collected from different sources such as impact fees and a short-term loan to pay for the project up front.
[PAST COVERAGE: Community urges Lake County to prioritize Hartwood Marsh Road improvements]
The Florida Department of Transportation will reimburse the county in the coming years.
“That’ll enable us to obviously start paying the contractors and then FDOT will pay us back,” Parks explained.
Looking beyond the Hartwood Marsh project, Commissioner Parks said his focus for 2026 includes improvements to busy intersections such as Highway 50 and Hancock Road.
“We’re going to have to be very resourceful, very innovative,” Parks said. ”And where the money comes from to get the projects done. But yeah, there are some really bad intersections in South Lake County, you know, everybody knows about. So that’s going to be the continued focus in 2026,” he said.
Parks said construction on Hartwood Marsh is set to begin anywhere between March and May of 2026.