It looks like Brevard County will be getting a handful of new interchanges on I-95 in the next few years. Other than the new Pineda Cswy interchange that's under construction now, a pair of interchanges are going to be built to support the new parkway to be build around Palm Bay.
The parkway is going to start down where Micco Road crosses I-95 at a new interchange to be built. It is long-needed since it will be right in the middle of an 18-mile stretch of freeway with no interchanges and will provide much-needed access to south Palm Bay. The new parkway will continue around Palm Bay to the west, crossing US-192, and ending at a new interchange being built for the Ellis Road extension (which, combined with the NASA Blvd realignment, will provide much better access to the Melbourne Airport).
For whatever reason, they're building it as a surface road, not a freeway. The planners said it's going to be designed like John Young Pkwy in Orlando where there is a limit to the number of stoplights on the road. Personally, I think it's short sighted to not make it a freeway, but I guess it's not up to me! It's being funded primarily through federal earmarks. For a long time it looked like this road was just a pipe dream, but it's been approved by all of the required government bodies and looks like it's actually going to happen.
The other new interchange will be at the new Viera Blvd. overpass and was negotiated as a requirement for the county to approve Viera's expansion to the west.
More info on the new Palm Bay Parkway:
http://www.drmp.com/Brevard/Project_Map.html (for the northern segment north of Malabar Rd - CR-514)
http://www.palmbayparkway.com/ (lobbying website)
http://palmbayflorida.org/utilities/divisions/documents/proposed_parkway.pdf (entire proposed alignment)
On a side note, this will open up the creepy part of Palm Bay known locally as "The Compound" to development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_CompoundIt's 200-miles of paved roads built by the General Development Corp that were never developed. It's creepy out there. There's no road signs (although arrows someone spray painted on the roads at some intersections point the way out if you're lost), lots of burnt out cars, and who knows what else. I've gone geocaching out there a few times and during the day, it's full of people flying model airplanes and rockets and people riding ATV's and dirt bikes. I wouldn't want to be out there at night. Even during the day, I usually don't go out there without carrying protection. I'm sure there's plenty of illegal activity going on out there, although the police do patrol it. The city has slowly been developing it from the east, and turned a part of it into a paintball park. The parkway will cut right through the compound. I don't doubt that utilities and then actual development will shortly follow.
