AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday proposed the Moving Florida Forward initiative to expedite transportation projects over the next four years. If approved by the Florida Legislature, it would bring new lanes for I-4, I-275, I-75 and other roads and highways to relieve traffic congestion throughout the state.

Under DeSantis' proposal, FDOT wants to allocate $1.5 billion to add more lanes to I-4 between ChampionsGate and Osceola Parkway, including special-use lanes such as the I-4 Express toll lanes. The proposal also calls for reconstructing some of the existing interchanges.

An additional $635 million would fund more I-4 lanes in Polk County, from ChampionsGate to U.S. Highway 27. That stretch of I-4 would include express lanes, too. An extra I-4 lane in each direction already is under construction near ChampionsGate that is not part of this announced project.

Other projects that got a funding boost include the Poinciana Parkway Extender from Osceola-Polk County Line Road to State Road 429 and the realignment of U.S. 301 from County Road 470 to Florida’s Turnpike.

In Sumter and Marion counties, more lanes would be added to I-75 from SR-44 to SR-326, and interchange modifications and right-of-way acquisitions would be developed for future widening. In all, those projects would cost about $479 million.

In Pinellas County, $354 million would go to a project to ease congestion on I-275 from 38th Avenue N. to 4th Street N. It would add two express toll lanes in each direction. A new multi-use trail would also be built along Ulmerton Road from I-275 to Feather Sound Drive. 

In Volusia County, $340 million would be spent on the I-95/U.S. 1 interchange in Ormond Beach. The project calls for about a 1-mile segment of U.S. 1 between Plantation Oaks Boulevard/ Broadway Avenue and Destination Daytona Lane to be widened from two lanes in each direction to three. This widening would include the addition of shared use paths to serve bicyclists, pedestrians, and other users. 

In Manatee County, $53 million would go to a project to widen SR-70 from a two-lane undivided roadway to a four-lane divided highway from Bourneside Boulevard to Waterbury Road.

(Courtesy Florida Department of Transportation)

In all, the proposal calls for $7 billion to prioritize 20 critical infrastructure projects in the existing FDOT Five-Year Work Program. The proposed legislation combines $4 billion of General Revenue Surplus with FDOT’s ability to leverage innovative financing tools, contracting and proposed policies for the resulting $3 billion over four years.

“This proposal will break through bureaucracy that often slows down infrastructure projects and allow FDOT to target projects that will ease congestion across the state," DeSantis said. "Expediting these projects will bring them to completion more than a decade ahead of schedule.”