A new year means new lanes for two of Central Florida’s busiest toll roads.

What You Need To Know

  • A widening project on State Road 417 is expected to wrap up soon

  • A State Road 429 widening project should be completed by mid-2025

  • Both projects include the installation of flex lanes

Work is wrapping up on State Road 417, and it’s expected to be completed later this year on State Road 429.

“When the 417 first opened, you could drive from Lake Nona to Disney World with almost no traffic,” said Kevin Kendrick, a local real estate agent who has lived in Orlando his entire life.

Since State Road 417 opened, it has become such a popular tolled expressway that congestion became a problem.

“You were definitely going to get bottle-necked in certain spots because it was two lanes,” Kendrick said.

But now that drive on State Road 417 is a little quicker thanks to a project just wrapping up from International Drive to the Beachline.

The Central Florida Expressway Authority spent $470 million to add a travel lane in each direction.

“This is just going to continue to make our drive easier,” Kendrick said. “Getting to appointments faster, not getting bottlenecked in traffic.”

In addition to the extra lane, the Expressway Authority is also introducing flex lanes, a wider left shoulder that can be used for traffic when a crash or other incident is blocking one or more of the right lanes.

“We have activated the flex lanes on 417 between International Drive and John Young Parkway,” Expressway Authority spokesman Brian Hutchings said. “And then the remaining 18 miles of flex lanes should be activated by early 2025.”

Hutchings said dynamic overhead messaging signs will alert drivers to when a flex lane will be open for drivers to use.

State Road 429 is also getting an extra lane in each direction, and flex lanes are also being added.

“That's a 13-mile corridor, and those will be activated by mid-2025,” Hutchings said.

The $400 million project is from Tilden Road to State Road 414.

Hutchings said other segments of State Road 417 and State Road 429 will get flex lanes in the future.

“We're pleased with how they are functioning right now and are incorporating them in future widening projects that we have,” he said.

Kendrick said having flex lanes available is key when he needs to get to a house up for sale, or when he's heading home.

“That's going to be exciting, too, knowing that if there is an accident, that instead of going from three lanes to two, (the flex lane will) let people continue to flow and get home to their destination,” he said.