Polk County commissioners have signed off on a $1,931,532.85 construction contract to build a roundabout at the intersection of Cypress Gardens Road and Lake Ned Road in Winter Haven, a project county officials say is meant to improve safety and traffic flow at the busy suburban crossing. The contract, awarded to Tampa-based Kamminga & Roodvoets, Inc., covers roadway, drainage, signage and pavement marking work, with completion expected by spring 2027.
The Polk County Board of County Commissioners approved the contract on Aug. 4, according to Polk County Government Florida. County procurement records show the award followed a competitive process under Bid 26-218, with the county fielding 10 contractor bids before recommending Kamminga & Roodvoets as the lowest responsive bidder, according to Polk County records.
A Project Years in the Making
The roundabout did not appear overnight. County commissioners approved a $73,000 right-of-way purchase agreement with Lakeside Real Estate, LLC back in July 2025 to acquire Parcel 100, land needed to accommodate the wider turning radii a roundabout requires. That was followed in March 2026 by a separate $452,097.20 contract with Eisman & Russo, Inc. for construction engineering and inspection services, which will oversee daily contractor compliance once work begins.
When Polk County first published bid notices for the project in April, procurement documents estimated construction costs at $1,535,044.10 with an expected build duration of 210 calendar days, per the county's bid notice records. The final awarded contract came in roughly $396,000 higher than that early estimate, reflecting broader cost pressures in heavy civil construction across Central Florida. Bidding specifications also required textured, pigmented concrete on the central roundabout apron and mandated that construction vehicles and materials stay outside the clear zone during non-working hours.
A Familiar Contractor With a Growing Footprint
Kamminga & Roodvoets is no stranger to Polk County work. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-headquartered firm, which operates a major regional office in Tampa and employs more than 200 people in road and utility infrastructure, secured a $4.99 million contract from the county in December to build another roundabout at Spirit Lake Road and Sheffield Road, also in Winter Haven. That project involved complex road realignments near Eagle Lake Road.
Why Polk County Keeps Choosing Roundabouts
The push toward circular junctions is not isolated to this intersection. According to Florida Department of Transportation safety figures published by the City of Lakeland, converting stop or signal-controlled intersections to roundabouts reduces fatal and severe injury crashes by 78% to 82% and cuts vehicle conflict points from 32 down to eight. Roundabouts force lower travel speeds and eliminate the high-impact T-bone and head-on collisions common at conventional intersections.
That safety math is driving a countywide strategy. The Polk Transportation Planning Organization's 2023 Vision Zero Conditions Assessment Study found that local roadways see more than 5,000 traffic crashes per year, a figure that has pushed planners to prioritize traffic-calming geometry on high-injury corridors. In November 2025, the Florida Department of Transportation opened another Polk County roundabout at Waring Road and Drane Field Road in Lakeland, part of the same regional shift away from standard traffic signals on growing corridors.
The Cypress Gardens Road and Lake Ned Road intersection sits in a stretch of Winter Haven that has seen its share of difficult headlines recently, including a fatal pedestrian rail collision near Cypress and a police chase that ended nearby. Whether or not those incidents factored into the timing, the roundabout adds to a broader pattern of infrastructure investment along the corridor as county officials work toward their long-term safety goals.
