Osceola Parkway Interchange

The Reedy Creek Improvement District’s Osceola Parkway Interchange project set out to enhance access to Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park in advance of the Star Wars and Toy Story land expansions. HNTB was selected as the lead designer for the interchange overhaul, ahead of the park’s largest expansions of all time.

HNTB designed the Osceola Interchange in just under 12 months and approached the complex project, by breaking it out into four separate design packages to meet the aggressive construction timeline. The first being the Disney Hollywood Studios Slip Ramp which needed to facilitate access to the theme park during construction. The second was the Osceola Boulevard / World Drive Interchange, which needed to provide alternate routing and access prior to the construction of the main project. The third, the Osceola Boulevard / Victory Way Early Work, allowing surcharge and utility construction in advance of the main project. The last, but no less complex was the Osceola Boulevard / Victory Way Interchange, which provided enhanced access to the new Star Wars and Toy Story themed attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, including a 3-level interchange.

In addition to the multi-phased maintenance of traffic, the project included over seven miles of new or resurfaced roadways, eight new bridges, one widened bridge and one bridge removal. The initiative also included R/W, utility relocation, nine retentions ponds and signalization.

The project was completed in late 2020 and has been considered a great success. The construction ultimately came in under budget and completed early, which was attributed to the cost controls initiated in the design and working closing with the client during the concepting phase.

The Osceola Parkway interchange project was recently recognized by the American Council of Engineering Companies, Florida chapter with an Honor award in the annual Engineering Excellence awards.