SANFORD, Fla. — As construction gets ready to start later this year on major I-4 improvements in Osceola and Polk counties, the Florida Department of Transportation is now looking at revising plans for I-4 in Seminole and Volusia counties.

What You Need To Know

  • FDOT officials say they plan to re-evaluate traffic demands for I-4 in Seminole and Volusia counties

  • They say rising costs and limited funding have put plans on the back burner

  • FDOT expects to release more details about revised plans by the end of the year

“Why isn’t I-4 better than this? It should be better for us,” said Wanda Chandler, who commutes from her Sanford home to downtown Orlando for work. “For all the people that live in Volusia and Seminole counties, and they work in Orlando, this is wrong. It’s just not right.”

Chandler said it’s normal to see delays on I-4 west in the morning approaching the entrance to I-4 Express in the Longwood area.

“It’s typical to see an accident between this area and Longwood,” she said.

In the afternoon, Chandler said congestion forms on I-4 east in Lake Mary, Sanford and toward the St. Johns River Bridge.

Chandler said she pays the tolls to use I-4 Express to avoid delays farther south toward Orlando.

“The express lanes are like a gift of God,” she said.

Right now, I-4 Express runs from near State Road 434 in Longwood toward Universal Orlando and Sand Lake Road.

Construction is underway to extend westbound I-4 Express from Universal to Disney World.

Starting at the end of the year, FDOT plans to begin building more express lanes from Disney through Osceola County and into Polk County.

Chandler said she wishes FDOT would look to the north, though, where plans to extend I-4 Express into Lake Mary, Sanford, DeBary, Deltona and up toward DeLand have been put on the back burner.

District 5 Public Information Director Cindi Lane said FDOT came up with a plan for I-4 in Seminole and Volusia counties nearly a decade ago, based on traffic data from 2011.

Plans called for express lanes and diverging diamond interchanges, which would have opened in the year 2020.

“With rising costs and limited funding, the construction of the I-4 segments in Seminole and Volusia counties was pushed out beyond that timeline,” Lane said.

FDOT was able to make some improvements in Seminole County, including to the EE Williamson Road bridge over I-4, an eastbound auxiliary lane in Lake Mary, and intersection improvements at County Road 46A and US-17/92 in Sanford.

Now, FDOT is going back to the drawing board, evaluating the traffic demand based on 2022 data collected.

“This review will allow the department to verify if the current concepts can continue to meet the demand an additional 10 years into the future, or if FDOT needs to revise some of these concepts accordingly,” Lane said.

Lane said FDOT is also looking at construction in phases to help spread out costs.

“Any work they can start doing is a breath of fresh air,” said Chandler. “Because we would really like for them to start the work as soon as possible.”