A crucial part of what is called the country’s busiest corridor, the six-mile Interstate 4 stretch will provide drivers with two additional lanes by the end of April.
Starting the week of April 28, drivers will be able to use 6.1 mile new lanes in each direction from east to I-4 of US 27, from 27 east of Polk County to World Drive near Disney Springs.
“Last June, we promised to deliver a busy relief lane through one of the busiest sections of the I-4 by the end of this year. We are not only going to fulfill our deadlines, but we are going to win our own deadlines.” “This will be a sigh of relief for many.”
With Desantis’ announcement, I-4 travelers will benefit early ahead of a larger overhaul of the interstate.
Over the next decade, interstates face a $2.5 billion project aimed at adding express lanes, spreading shoulders and improving replacements.
Over 140,000 vehicles drive the I-4 stretch per day.
Jared Perdue, secretary to the Florida Department of Transportation, said the new lanes held this month should help maintain travel time amid the construction of larger projects.
“This will be a game-changer for the area…it’s a parking lot all day,” Perdue said of that section of the highway. “We will maintain these new lanes during construction.”
Among the most blocked roads in the country in 2023, the nearly 12-mile I-4 stretch in Orange and Osceola County between State Route 528 and State Route 429 became number one of the most blocked roads in the country in 2023, according to INRIX.
Data collection companies develop rankings by estimating the average driver time lost to individual road delays. The I-4 driver spent 31 minutes a day sitting in a traffic jam on top of typical travel times, INRIX data shows.
FDOT uses the shoulders of interstates to create new lanes and pave them to make them part of the road.
Construction began in February on the new I-4 lane. The lanes will be closed early in the morning and late at night, allowing work to continue.
Additional lanes already within the corridors of local tourist attractions will come as Universal Orlando’s latest theme park, the epic universe.
“It’s important to quality of life and it’s important to continued economic vitality, and I think it’s even more challenging,” DeSantis said. “I think a lot of people are going to beat the door that wants to go to really good, epic universe.”
Construction on the I-4 is part of a larger $7 billion project called Mobile Florida Forward, which will expand much of the state’s highway network over the next 10-15 years. The 12,000-mile project spanning the state’s highway system, with roughly 20 major projects ranging from I-95 in South Florida to US 98 near Panama City Beach, aiming to reduce statewide congestion.
