Connectivity from South to North
 

Greetings -

When we moved in this summer in Marsh Bend, the real estate salesman from The Villages indicated that the connectivity golf cart path from the Southern portion of The Villages to the homeland would be complete by early 2020.

I'm no engineer, but in my humble opinion, there is no way in hell that this project will be completed in less than six months from now....

Can anyone shed any light on their opinion as to when the path will be completed ?

Thanks

The horsepower available....................it could be done in 30 days.

I don't know if the sales person was just telling you what you wanted to hear or not? But if the developers want the connection be done in 6 months, it will be done in 6 months. They have the resources and influence to make it happen.

Dam, looking at the title to the thread, I was hoping you were talking about a high speed train from my home in the Villages to the one up north (that would allow our dog to ride with us). Oh well, dream on!

I've been here since May 0f 2017 and I'm in no hurry. From where I live in Fenney just to get to Paddock Square is going to be a long haul, I might do it once but after that I'll use the car. Even for grocery shopping, they don't make a cooler big enough for what my wife buys at Publix and I have no idea how people get refrigerated or frozen items home in a golf car unless they live very near to the store. I am ready to do some shopping down here but in no hurry for connectivity.

Just checked Google Maps for the time to drive an auto from Demarco Dr in Marsh Bend to the Savannah Center: 30 Minutes. I'm guessing the Sharon would be about the same. Must be an hour or more by golf cart.

A golf cart bridge could take a little time because of the need for a bridge.

What shocks me is that Meggison didn't connect Brownwood to Warm Springs a year ago . . . and even now progress seems painstakingly slow.

45 minutes from Hillsborough to Spanish Springs....do it often, great ride. We will use carts to go south since doubt that ride will be any longer. Hate using a car around this place, especially in bird season.

In the December 2018 villages magazine a connectivity date was shown as Jan 2020.
A recent video from the villages now puts connectivity at May 2020.
In the November 2019 magazine insert, pictures are shown of the Water Lily bridge (turnpike bridge) and Chitty Chatty (Rohan RRC) bridge under construction, both are dated November 2019. Grossly incorrect and outdated, the Water Lily bridge main structure was completed months ago and can easily be seen from the Turnpike. The Chitty Chatty picture is at least a month or more old and out of date.

One cannot help but wonder if the slippage in the schedule is internally or externally driven? With at least five distinct large areas under construction by The Villages are the available resources spread a little too thin and schedules being reevaluated? Is the information and publicity pictures being released being intentionally muted to reduce expectations and cover for previously over zealous advertising to drive sales south of SR44?

I try not to get on here and post anything prefaced with "I heard...". However, it's difficult to get straight answers from anyone in the know on this topic. When we moved here in spring of 2018, as GWN points out, connectivity was shown as Jan 2020. That wasn't a rumor or hearsay - it was printed on maps and was being said out loud by employees of TV. Since then, we have watched great progress from both ends of the eventual connection with the tunnels and bridges and paths going in on the south side to the tunnels and bridges going in on the Brownwood side. Then the "golden spike" began to be assembled on the side of the turnpike and has been put together for quite a while. So, most of the pieces are there - it's just a matter of finishing them up. Then TV comes out with a VMail proudly bragging of the connectivity coming in April/May, but never acknowledged or addressed the elephant in the room which was that that timeline was several months off from the Jan 2020 timeline. So now for the "I heard" part - I heard that the state, or FDOT to be more specific, was holding up the turnpike bridge completion until after the high season of traffic that feeds the the Orlando theme parks, much of which funnels down the turnpike. The only reason I'd repeat that hearsay is because it makes the most logical sense to me. As they say - "follow the money". We are in no particular hurry for connectivity, but I do appreciate honesty and transparency and this would all go over much better if they would just acknowledge the delay and provide a plausible reason for it rather than just acting like May is the date and always has been. Perhaps they don't want to be seen as throwing the state under the bus, or maybe they are just behind schedule and aren't used to that and don't know how to handle it. But I'm in agreement with much of the above posts - they have the resources, if it were simply a matter of getting it done by a given date, they could make it happen.

Hide and watch. I'll hold your beer.

I still wonder why the connectivity wasn't first. It's not like speculating to buy the land before the railroad comes through.

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If you and I knew how to do business like they know how to do business and wait for the right opportunity to buy property at the optimal price, than we'd be as rich as they are.

No doubt. But why not the connectivity?

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Seems to me if connectivity was done first why would anyone use it and go down there if nothing was there to see, visit or use.