I-4 slated for massive closure
FDOT will close all but one lane downtown
Interstate 4 will have a massive closure through downtown Orlando starting Wednesday evening as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to speed up road construction while Floridians are largely sheltering from COVID-19.
The Florida Department of Transportation will shut down all but one, westbound lane of Interstate 4 between Princeton Street to the north and Gore Street to the south from Wednesday evening to Monday morning. All westbound lanes may be closed intermittently at night during the weekend.
The closure will occur as part of the over-budget, behind-schedule I-4 Ultimate construction project, which is adding toll lanes to 21 miles of the interstate from north of State Road 434 in Seminole County, through Orlando and to west of Florida’s Turnpike in Orange County.
“Taking advantage of the unique opportunity and less crowded roadways will allow key improvements on the I-4 Ultimate project to open in an expedited manner,” the Florida Department of Transportation announced Monday afternoon.
As the state’s largest road project ever, I-4 Ultimate has been beset with delays, cost overruns and worker fatalities. DOT recently announced an additional
payment of $125 million to the builder, a consortium of companies called I-4 Mobility Partners, boosting the cost to $2.415 billion.
The department also agreed to extend the completion date to the end of 2022, or a year behind schedule.
The closure to one lane will be a huge advantage to the builder, enabling workers maintaining extended shifts to not have to mobilize and demobilize equipment and materials each day.
Often congested and at a standstill during peak hours, I-4 is the region’s busiest road, carrying nearly 200,000 vehicles daily before the pandemic hit.
Traffic has lessened significantly since stay-athome orders were issued, but DOT was not able to say how many cars will be funneled into the one, open lane or forced to exit into detours overnight during the weekend.
“It will be monitored,” said DOT spokeswoman Jessica Ottaviano said.
The department is urging drivers to avoid I-4 westbound altogether and to consider using the region’s SunRail commuter train as an option.
For those insisting on driving westbound on I-4, officials say they should exit as far north as Lee Road to make their way to detours along either Orange Blossom Trail or John Young Parkway.
During the closure, workers will shift travel lanes to their permanent alignment. Along with that task, ramps to and from I-4 and State Road 408 will be closed a varying times.
DOT has posted suggested detours and closure specifics at i4ultimate.com
The 3-mile stretch from Princeton to Gore through the core of Orlando is often congested in both directions even with the reduction of traffic volumes resulting from the coronavirus.
Orlando officials said through a statement that city staff “will be assisting FDOT in educating Orlando residents of their announcements.”
But Seminole County Commissioner Bob Dallari said DOT is out of line in waiting two days before the closure to inform the public and instead should have undertaken a more robust information campaign.
“The worst time to learn about something like this is from behind the wheel,” Dallari said. “For transparency with the public, this is not adequate.”
Ottaviano said I-4 motorists have experienced many of the detours previously.
Many of the the closures and detours still in the works for I-4 Ultimate were combined into the single closure period starting Wednesday evening, she said.
“We looked to combine as much as we could through this one general area to lessen the overall impact for drivers,” Ottaviano said.