I4

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has provided a $950m loan under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) to fund the reconstruction and widening of Interstate 4 in Orlando, Florida.

The DOT claims that the loan is the largest awarded to any public-private partnership (P3) and the 13th in this year.

The Interstate 4 is known as I-4 Ultimate and is part of the 54-year old I-4 corridor, which runs between Tampa and Daytona Beach and serves several of the region’s key north-south corridors, including Florida’s Turnpike and I-95.

"We have been able to move this project from the financing drawing board to breaking ground in near record time, because of the Department’s early involvement."

The TIFIA loan will be used to replace six general purpose lanes on I-4 and add four new express lanes on a 21-mile section of I-4 from west of Kirkman Road in Orange County to east of SR 434 in Seminole County.

Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said: "We have been able to move this project from the financing drawing board to breaking ground in near record time, because of the Department’s early involvement.

"The ‘I-4 Ultimate’ is the sort of highway improvement that US drivers need and it underscores the importance of passing the President’s GROW AMERICA Act to make more investments to modernise our ageing roads to keep up with future demands."

The GROW AMERICA Act is a $302bn, four-year multi-modal investment plan to address the US transportation network.

US acting federal highway administrator Gregory Nadeau said: "Without a loan like this, Orlando’s I-4 would have continued to age requiring even more costly fixes in the years ahead, creating additional traffic delays without any hope of congestion relief.

"The travel demands in this area of Florida continue to grow, which is why the ‘I-4 Ultimate’ is the right solution at the right time."

Earlier this month, the Florida Department of Transportation selected I-4 Mobility Partners team for the state’s $2.32bn I-4 Ultimate project.

Image: I-4 East moving towards Downtown Orlando in Florida. Photo: courtesy of Ziggymarley01.