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DAVENPORT, Fla. - Adding more lanes to I-4 might only provide a short term solution.
The Florida Department of Transportation is set to start adding new lanes along seven and half miles between US 27 in Polk County and World Drive near Disney Springs.
Two congestion relief lanes will be built in the median of these two road ways. The FDOT says that it is a temporary pavement that will help ease traffic changes as construction continues on the primary Moving I-4 Projects.
This phase is one piece of the Moving I-4 Forward project, an initiative by the FDOT to alleviate traffic along I-4. The changes start west of U.S. 27 to east of State Road 536.
WDBO spoke with Emily Bush, the Executive Director of Bike/Walk Central Florida and a lecturer for the School of Public Administration at UCF.
“I think these lanes will provide immediate relief once construction is complete, however due to induced demand, we will see those congestion gains lesson over time, and in the long term, this will not provide true relief to the area,” said Bush.
A report from the National Center for Sustainable Transportation found that a roadway capacity expansion matches the increase of vehicle miles traveled, long term.
Meaning, if a roadway expands by 10 percent, the induced demand would create a 10 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled.
“Only a multimodal system will provide congestion relief, as proven time and time again. We cannot continue to build and expand one transportation mode without considering other alternatives that move more people with less resources and space,” she said. “We won’t have the room to continue widening I-4 (hence the “Ultimate” title), therefore we have to consider modal shift to truly relieve congestion.”
I-4 is ranked among the top most dangerous interstates in the country, especially with the high influx of travelers going through Orlando and just being a tourism hub for the state. Its multi-lane and highspeed nature also contributes to its classification.
Read: I-4 safety research aims to cut crashes and congestion
The FDOT claims that the project will increase safety and connectivity, and while this is true to some degree, the safety is mainly emphasized in the Accelerated Start phase of the initiative, where temporary lanes are built to pre-empt main construction.
Bush says that adding temporary lanes for highway and roadway construction projects is a standard practice.
“It’s almost impossible to construct or add to a highway without having temporary lanes,” she said. “These are temporary lanes, so depending on the maintenance of traffic plan (MOT plan), the lanes may stay as a part of the permanent general use lanes, or they might be removed, depending on the alignment of the final roadway.”
Over time, the congestion relief lanes will open up the opportunity to begin construction on new express lanes, according to a video by Moving I-4 Forward: I-4 Express to U.S. 27.
The Federal Highway Administration describes the use of tolls is a form of congestion pricing, which will allow drivers to choose how they want to move through rush hour traffic, through pricing.
The project is estimated to last about a decade, costing $2.5 Billion.
Read: ‘Moving Florida Forward’: FDOT gives update on multi-billion-dollar I-4 overhaul plan
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