ORLANDO, Fla. – The I-4 Express experiment — toll lanes down the center of I-4 — how are they working?
When the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) finished the $2.3 billion I-4 Ultimate makeover project in 2022, it installed two Express lanes in each direction, promising to decrease congestion and speed up traffic for everyone, not just the drivers paying the price to use the toll lanes.
So have they?
Absolutely, said Florida Department of Transportation Public Information Director Cindi Lane.
[STATS: I-4 Express by the numbers]
“I-4 Express has been a great success since it opened February 2022, with 39 million trips in its first 2.5 years,” Lane said. “Central Florida residents and visitors who choose I-4 Express are seeing many benefits in safety and mobility, traffic flow and less congestion.”
Lane said all I-4 drivers have benefitted from the 21 miles of Express lanes.
“In addition to the benefits for Express lane users, travel times have improved in the general use lanes,” Lane said. “The average motorist saves five minutes westbound and four minutes eastbound on their trip, adding up to three hours a month for a regular commuter.”
Also, crashes and crash-related congestion have both decreased.
“Lower congestion since the introduction of I-4 Express means that vehicles have more space to operate more safely, and quicker clearance times reduce the risk of secondary crashes,” Lane said. “Vehicle crashes in the past 2.5 years have decreased by 42%, and lane-blocking incidents have dropped 63%.”
Lane said the Express lanes have generated $71.4 million in gross toll revenue since they opened in 2022, paying down the cost of the entire I-4 Ultimate Project and funding operation and maintenance costs.
“The Department took an innovative approach to developing the I-4 Ultimate concession agreement to not only cover building the improvements but to also include the operations and maintenance for 40 years,” Lane said. “The revenue from tolling is dedicated to I-4 Ultimate project costs and those future operating expenses, so it would be correct to say the toll revenue is helping pay down the cost of the project. That’s how toll revenue benefits Central Floridians (in that it helps pay for I-4 Ultimate, which transformed 21 miles of I-4). Toll revenue is part of the budget factored in to repay the cost of the project, it is not the single source of funding.”
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FDOT still charges 50 cents per segment.
“Since its opening, I-4 Express has operated at fixed rate of 50 cents per segment, with a trip on all 21 miles of I-4 Express costing $3.50 eastbound and $3 westbound,” Lane said. “The Department is monitoring traffic and assessing when the traffic demand will warrant the change to variable pricing. At this time, the Express lanes are still able to provide a reliable trip without charging more. FDOT will make an announcement to make the public aware of any change to pricing before it makes the switch to variable tolling.”
There are no toll booths on I-4, so drivers must pay with a transponder or be billed through their license plate (toll-by-plate). FDOT sends an invoice to the address on file associated with the license plate for the cost of the toll plus a $2.50 processing fee.
“In Fiscal Year 2024, approximately 79% of I-4 Express customers used SunPass or another Florida-accepted transponder,” Lane said. “The remaining 21% were issued an invoice to pay their toll. Any revenue from tolling is dedicated to project costs and future operating expenses.”