Will I-4 tolls be pricey or peanuts? Road officials hint at rates surprisingly lower than expected

The Orlando Sentinel ^ | March 26, 2021 | Kevin Spear

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

After years of construction, with traffic-cone obstacle courses, tire-bursting potholes and white-knuckle steering along ever-shifting lanes, it might stand that the coming tolls for the rebuilt Interstate 4 would also bring the same level of dread. But drivers might be in for a pleasant surprise.

“We actually don’t know yet how much the tolls are going to be,” said Jared Perdue, the state’s transportation secretary for Central Florida. “There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of assumptions.”

But while final toll calculations are still underway, Perdue’s agency estimated recently that the I-4 toll lanes will now not be in as much demand and therefore, not reap as much revenue as had previously been predicted, and potentially lower tolls than once anticipated by the state. The rates could be much like those of the Central Florida Expressway Authority, a regional toll-road operator, which charges an average of nearly 14 cents per mile. Early on, I-4 tolls were projected to be as high as 68 cents per mile.

“A lot of factors have changed,” Perdue said of an unprecedented, monster road job for Florida that came to life nearly a decade ago.

Those changing factors are complicated and overlapping, and not previously presented in detail for the public by the transportation department. The key factor appearing to drive down toll rates, Perdue explained, was the overall ongoing upgrades to I-4. Through tweaks and redesigns employed early in the project, the regular lanes of I-4 were given the capacity to handle more traffic than originally envisioned -- meaning not as many drivers will be tempted to jump on the toll lanes.

[Mase]

I call it I-Death. Damn road has been under construction for at least 26 years. Now they want you to pay for the privilege of risking your life. If they promised to widen the road through Orlando, while building a beltway, I might be ok with paying a small toll.

[Fledermaus]

Lies.

[Old Grumpy]

Yes, and it has gotten worse, year after year. It’s like an obstacle course that never ends.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

I-4, oh there were those the days when I worked for the Mouse, it was always congested.

Much worse now! I avoid, if I can, Orlando when heading north. Take, wait for it, TOLL ROADS, to go around Orlando. But, where all the TOLL ROAD feeders come in to I-4, major congestion.