Will tolls on I-4 be pricey?
Road officials hint rates may be surprisingly lower than anticipated
After years of construction, with traffic-cone obstacle courses, tire-bursting potholes and whiteknuckle steering along ever-shifting lanes, it might stand that the coming tolls for the rebuilt Interstate 4 would also bring the same level of dread. But drivers might be in for a pleasant surprise.
“We actually don’t know yet how much the tolls are going to be,” said Jared Perdue, the state’s transportation secretary for Central Florida. “There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of
assumptions.”
But while final toll calculations are still underway, Perdue’s agency estimated
recently that the I-4 toll lanes will now not be in as much demand and therefore, not reap as much revenue as had previously been predicted, and potentially lower tolls than once anticipated by the state. The rates could be much like those of the Central Florida Expressway Authority, a regional toll-road operator, which charges an average of nearly 14 cents per mile. Early on, I-4 tolls were projected to be as high as 68 cents per mile.
“A lot of factors have changed,” Perdue said of an unprecedented, monster road job for Florida that came to life nearly a decade ago.
Those changing factors
The basis for I-4’s tolls is much different than for the turnpike and expressway authority roads. The state transportation department calls the I-4 tolls lanes “managed lanes” because their traffic volumes will be manipulated with variable tolls, ensuring there are neither too few nor too many cars.
are complicated and overlapping, and not previously presented in detail for the public by the transportation department. The key factor appearing to drive down toll rates, Perdue explained, was the overall ongoing upgrades to I-4. Through tweaks and redesigns employed early in the project, the regular lanes of I-4 were given the capacity to handle more traffic than originally envisioned — meaning not as many drivers will be tempted to jump on the toll lanes.
The two, leading improvements were the extensive addition of what the transportation department calls auxiliary lanes, which are immediately adjacent to on-ramps and off-ramps. They will help ensure a smoother flow of traffic in the three, through lanes in each direction. Also improved were the major interchanges.
“The projected toll rates have come down substantially based on a lot of the innovative things that have been implemented on I-4,” Perdue said. “The demand for toll-managed lanes actually comes down.”
The Florida Department of Transportation made a staggering investment in the 21-mile reconstruction of I-4 in Orange and Seminole counties, which has handled as many as 1.5 million vehicles daily as the region’s busiest and often most disliked road.
Initial construction will cost $2.4 billion and potentially more as contractors vie with lawsuits and claims for hundreds of millions of dollars in further payments.
When completed early next year, I-4 generally will feature four tolled, six regular and two auxiliary lanes in a corridor at least a football field wide. The towering interchange with State Road 408, the region’s second busiest highway, competes with Orlando’s downtown skyline for attention.
The centerpiece element of the state’s costliest road project has become readily recognizable in recent months as a separate highway being constructed within I-4’s enormous median. It’s a toll road intended to beckon motorists who are frustrated with the crowded lanes of I-4.
In recent weeks, electronic signs that will display variable toll charges have arrived for installation above the toll lanes.
A years-long mystery has been whether the cost of driving on the I-4 tolled expressway will be affordable only for those in luxury cars, or within the financial reach of the working class. Those lanes are to open by the end of the year.
“Releasing toll pricing could help businesses and commuters adjust according,” said Sara Elbadri, who is an Orlando resident active in civic matters and the chair of a community advisory committee at MetroPlan Orlando, the region’s transportation planning organization.
Elbadri said she hopes state transportation leaders have taken into account the economic difficulties for many because of the pandemic.
But the state rationale for determining I-4 tolls, according to Perdue and documents provided by his agency prior to the start of construction, is unlike that of any other toll road in Central Florida.
The Florida Department of Transportation’s flagship toll road, the 320-mile Florida’s Turnpike from Central to South Florida, has rates based on revenue needed to pay off debts, said Angela Starke, a spokesperson for the transportation agency’s toll division, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.
The turnpike’s toll rate — for drivers using the SunPass electronic transponders — for the is about 7 cents per mile. For turnpike expansion sections, the rate is 10 to 15 cents per mile.
“Turnpike toll amounts are paid by all customers regardless of the lane, time of day or traffic volumes,” Starke said.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority, owning and operating 125 miles of toll-road primarily in Orange County, has transponder rates of between 11 and 19 cents per mile, with an average of 14.5 cents per mile. Toll rates are set according to authority debts.
The basis for I-4’s tolls is much different than for the turnpike and expressway authority roads. The state transportation department calls the I-4 tolls lanes “managed lanes” because their traffic volumes will be manipulated with variable tolls, ensuring there are neither too few nor too many cars.
“This is not about generating revenue,” Perdue said. “This is more about providing a safer, more efficient I-4 and relieving congestion and making the trip more reliable.”
Perdue went on to say: “The tolls help manage the choices that people are making and really provide for the optimum efficiency.”
What that means is that as rush hour bogs down traffic on regular lanes, toll rates will rise to discourage a mass exodus of drivers to the toll lanes. That way the toll lanes will remain clear of congestion. Project planners intend for toll-lane traffic to maintain at least 50 mph.
“If you are planning a trip on the old I-4, depending on where you are going, you may have to add in 30 minutes because you don’t know what’s going to happen along the corridor,” Perdue said. “The toll-managed lanes provide a more reliable trip.”
The transportation department has previously said that the regular lanes of the rebuilt interstate will still congest at rush hour. But, according to the agency, the toll lanes will siphon away enough traffic that the congestion on the regular lanes will be less intense and not last as long as if there were no toll lanes.
The agency’s spokesperson for Central Florida, Jessica Ottaviano, said that without toll lanes, I-4’s speeds by the year 2030 would bog down to an estimated 29 mph hour during peak periods of traffic.
But with the addition of toll lanes, the speed at peak traffic is projected to be 49 mph for the westbound, non-tolled lanes and 42 mph for eastbound, non-tolled lanes.
“These numbers show that while congestion will still occur at times, it is expected to be significantly improved,” Ottaviano said.
While the remake of I-4 has an initial cost of $2.4 billion, the ultimate project price tag is slated to be much higher.
The companies rebuilding the road also are under contract to manage and maintain the portion of rebuilt I-4 through 2054. By that time, the state expects to have paid $6 billion for construction, repairs, reconstruction and loan interest. Originally, more than half of that amount, $3.4 billion, was to be covered by toll revenues.
From 2020 through 2054, the state is to make annual payments to the builders of between $103 million and $141 million. Beyond 2036, toll revenues were projected to cover all of the annual payments. The Florida Department of Transportation, however, is obligated to make those payments even if toll revenues fall short.
As those original cost projections were made, the transportation department did a “traffic and revenue study.” The study did not determine toll rates, according to the transportation department, but it estimated what toll rates would have to be to ensure that the toll lanes operated as intended.
A toll chart from that early traffic and revenue study implied that driving the full, 21 miles of I-4 toll lanes would cost drivers as much as $14.20.
But a traffic and revenue study conducted in 2019 came away with a much different outlook; a maximum charge of $3.52 for the 21 miles.
The newer study portends a plunge in I-4 toll revenue and a future funding challenge for the transportation department.
But significant uncertainties remain. With Florida’s Turnpike and Central Florida Expressway Authority roads, drivers have no option but to pay tolls when using those roads.
I-4, however, offers will give drivers a choice — free or toll lanes. And as more drivers opt for toll lanes, rates and revenues will rise.
“When we finish the facility and open it up for traffic, then those unknowns will become known,” Perdue said.