Poinciana residents and environmentalists remain conflicted over a proposed $2.5 billion expressway that promises to revolutionize Osceola County travel at the price of slicing through a wildlife corridor.

Tuesday’s public hearing at Liberty High School marked one of the final steps before the Central Florida Expressway Authority’s governing board decides the fate of the Southport Connector project, which if approved would to extend from the Poinciana Parkway to Pleasant Hill Road and continue east to Florida’s Turnpike.

Residents who spoke at the hearing, the first of three, remained skeptical the 15-mile tolled expressway will actually be the solution to some of the worst commute times in the nation.

Traffic along Cypress Parkway, the 4.8-mile stretch of road at the center of residen

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