OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation is speeding up work to relieve Interstate 4 congestion in the ChampionsGate area.

Data from INRIX found a driver taking I-4 west between State Road 528 and State Road 429 every day at 5 p.m., lost 124 hours to traffic in 2023.

Renee and Dominique Anthony, realtors in the ChampionsGate area, feel the pain almost every day.

"Sometimes we work with clients who don’t get off until 5 o'clock," said Dominique Anthony. "Well, 5 o'clock is the worst time, it’s not the best time to tour homes when we have to involve I-4. So, we may not be able to see as many homes.”

Last year Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Moving Florida Forward, a state budget funded program which would add four extra lanes to I-4 in each direction between Osceola Parkway and U.S. 27.

But the work won’t be completed until at least 2030. 

"This is truly congested almost the entire day, so this is really going to help in an area that has a major pinch point,” said Jessica Ottaviano, FDOT’s state communications director.

Ottaviano says the state knows drivers need relief now so they’re expediting construction, building one of those four new lanes, called an auxiliary lane, next year between State Road 417 and U.S. 27.

"With the addition of these new auxiliary lanes we’re actually going to decrease congestion by 33% just by this single lane of traffic in each direction of traffic," said Ottaviano.

Instead of waiting until 2030 for relief, drivers should see a reduction in backups when that new lane opens up in each direction by the end of next year.

"Just getting from one place to another can be a struggle," said Renee Anthony, "but sometimes I’m like, 'You go to Orlando, I'll go to Poinciana,' and we’re able to knock it out. That’s one of the benefits of us having a team."

After that extra lane is added in both directions of I-4, FDOT will focus on building the other free lane, and two express lanes.

The hope is that extra lane will help during the extensive construction period.