Gov. DeSantis: Florida’s Interstate 4 upgrades are ‘fully funded and ahead of schedule by decades’

LAKELAND, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced expedited construction timelines for several “Moving Florida Forward” infrastructure projects, including the widening of I-4 in Osceola and Polk counties and the Poinciana Parkway Connector Project in Osceola County.

DeSantis said the projects are 10–20 years ahead of schedule.

“Under my watch, Florida’s Department of Transportation will be solely focused on transporting people, unlike the federal government’s politicization of our national Department of Transportation,” DeSantis said. “And because of this approach, Florida’s major transportation upgrades are fully funded and ahead of schedule, by decades. We listen to the people of Florida, and we deliver.”

DeSantis said the I-4 projects will be constructed as multiple project segments to widen 14.7 miles of I-4 in Osceola and Polk counties from six to 10 lanes, including through managed express lanes for motorists seeking to travel further distances, which reduces congestion for all motorists. The projects will also widen all road shoulders for emergency evacuations and rework interchanges to reduce backups and queuing along ramps. Projects will break ground in a cadence beginning this fall.

An additional project, the Poinciana Parkway Connector project, will also be constructed to fill a 2.6 mile roadway through a heavily traveled portion of Osceola County, connecting I-4, SR 429/Western Beltway, and the existing SR 538/Poinciana Parkway.

DeSantis said before today’s announcement, that the project was unfunded and was estimated to begin in 2034 at the earliest. 

FDOT has expedited its delivery schedule to phase the project, by incorporating 65% of the work into a portion of these I-4 projects that will break ground later this year and the remaining work in 2028.

DeSantis also held a signing ceremony for House Bill 1301 which provides FDOT with the authority to complete the Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative.

The bill institutes public meeting and voting requirements on all local and regional planning and transit agencies seeking to reduce travel lanes and force people’s behavior out of car usage or ownership, icreases accountability of public transit agencies through transparency and reporting requirements on the overhead and administrative costs of public transit agencies, and prohibits the use of state funds to illegally tint and wrap transit vehicles with political messages, like transgender symbology.