Interstate 4

Interstate 4
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length:	132.298 mi (212.913 km)
Existed:	1957 – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-275 in Tampa
	US 41 in Tampa US 92 / US 301 near Tampa I-75 near Tampa US 98 in Lakeland US 27 near Davenport US 192 in Celebration Turnpike in Orlando SR 408 in Orlando US 17 / US 92 / US 441 in Orlando
East end:	I-95 / SR 400 in Daytona Beach
Location
Counties:	Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola, Orange, Seminole, Volusia
Highway system
Main route of the Interstate Highway System Main • Auxiliary • Business Florida State Roads Interstate • US • SR (Pre-1945) • Toll ← SR 3 SR 4 →

Interstate 4 (I-4) is a 132.298 miles (212.913 km) intrastate Highway located entirely within the US state of Florida. It goes from I-275 in Tampa, Florida to I-95 at Daytona Beach, Florida . It also has the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) designation of State Road 400 (SR 400), but only a small portion of the route is signed at the east end. I-4 is currently the lowest-numbered Interstate Highway within the contiguous 48 states. The area that surrounds I-4 is often referred to as the I-4 Corridor.

Route description

I-4 maintains a diagonal, northeast–southwest route for much of its length, although it is signed east–west. The 132-mile (212 km) route begins with an interchange with I-275 in Tampa and continues east toward I-75.

After passing through the eastern suburbs of Hillsborough County, it crosses into Polk County, entering the Lakeland area, intersecting with the Polk Parkway twice before entering Polk City.

At this point, the Interstate starts a turn toward the northeast where it intersects with the Orlando area cutting the city through at a diagonal direction going northeast/southwest. The route provides access to all of Orlando's theme parks including Disney World and Universal Studios, as well as nearly all of Orlando's toll roads, including Florida's Turnpike. Throughout most of Orange County and Seminole County, I-4 travels in a roughly north–south direction. This causes endless trepidations for outsiders, since the exits are named according to I-4's generally west–east orientation.

eastbound at exit 111 in Volusia County

Right before the eastern terminus, I-4 switches to a mostly east–west route in order to connect with traffic from and to I-95. At an interchange with I-95 in Daytona Beach, I-4 terminates; however, SR 400 continues eastward into Daytona Beach.

State Road 400
Location:	Tampa-Daytona Beach
Length:	137.03 mi (220.528 km)

SR 400, unsigned while concurrent with I-4, becomes signed east of I-95. The road extends for 3 miles (4.8 km) from the northeast terminus of I-4, on the south side of Daytona International Speedway and Daytona Beach International Airport, to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 (SR 5) in Daytona Beach. Named Beville Road, it runs along the boundary between the cities of Daytona Beach and South Daytona. The sections of Beville Road (the local name of SR 400), where it runs through the city, is classified a "Scenic Thoroughfare" by the City of Daytona Beach.

History

I-4 was one of the first Interstate Highways to be constructed in Florida, with the first section opening between Plant City and Lakeland in 1959. By early 1960, the Howard Frankland Bridge was opened to traffic, as well as the segment from the Hillsborough Avenue/US 301 junction in Tampa to Plant City. The stretch from Lake Monroe to Lake Helen, including the original St. Johns River Bridge also opened during that period. The segment from Lakeland to Orlando was complete by 1962. By the mid 1960s, several segments were already complete, including Malfunction Junction in Tampa and parts of I-4 through Orlando. The original western terminus was set in South Pasadena in the late 1960s, but this plan was rejected due to local opposition. As a result, I-4 went southwest only to 9th Street North in St. Petersburg.

The original plans called for I-4 to extend to St. Petersburg.

The entire Interstate Highway was completed by the late 1960s, however, the western terminus was truncated to Malfunction Junction in 1971 when I-75 was extended over the Frankland Bridge. Eventually, that stretch was again redesignated to become part of I-275.

In maps and atlases dating to the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the Tampa–St. Petersburg section of I-4/I-275 was marked as the Tampa Expressway. The Orlando segment was marked as the Orlando Expressway. Both names have since faded from maps.

Although many post-1970 interchanges along I-4 were constructed before the recent widening projects, they were designed with I-4 expansion in mind. In other words, there is enough room available to widen I-4 to up to ten lanes without extensively modifying the interchanges. Some of these interchanges include the I-75 stack (constructed in the 1980s) and several interchanges serving the Walt Disney World Resort (constructed in the late 1980s/early 1990s).

In 2002, I-4, along with most of Florida's interstates, switched over from a sequential exit numbering system to a mileage-based exit numbering system.

In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the I-4 corridor, a site of significant growth, was a focus of political activity within the swing state of Florida. Communities along the I-4 corridor were perceived by both major political parties as having higher proportions of undecided voters as compared to more Republican- or Democratic-leaning portions of the state. It played an equally key role in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, but whereas the corridor had voted heavily for Bush in 2004, which helped Bush win the state, in 2008 it swung behind Democratic candidate Obama, helping Obama win Florida.

A section of I-4 between Daytona Beach and Orlando called the 'dead zone' is rumored to be haunted. In 2010, the ECFRPC using GIS technology performed an analysis to determine if this identified zone had an increased fatality rate related to crashes. The analysis which compared this section of I-4 to several other dangerous I-4 sections found that while the dead zone area did not have the highest accident or fatality rate, it did identify that the percentage of fatality to accident was significantly higher in this location. In other words, while you are not more likely to be in accident in this section of I-4, if an accident occurs the chance of that accident containing a fatality is greatly increased.

Tampa area

The I-4/I-275 interchange (Malfunction Junction) was rebuilt from 2002 to 2006, and I-4 is under staged renovations to be widened from four to six lanes (with eight lanes in certain segments). Much of this work is complete, and all new travel lanes are now open. Eventually, I-4 will be widened again to a total of at least ten lanes (five in each direction). Studies for this project are already underway and construction should commence sometime in the 2010s. Completion of the project should be around 2020.

An old I-4 shield in Orlando

Eastbound I-4 shifted to its new, permanent alignment between Malfunction Junction and 50th Street on August 8, 2006. The new alignment includes a right-lane ramp exit/entry at the 22nd St/21st St Interchange (The previous left-lane configuration was causing hazardous conditions to commuters since its opening in 2005). On August 11, 2006, a fourth lane opened on eastbound I-4 between the downtown junction and 50th Street (led in by a newly opened third lane on the eastbound I-4 ramp from northbound I-275). And on August 18, the new westbound alignment, just west of 50th Street, opened. The newly opened lanes will improve flow throughout the interchange. The 50th Street overpass however, will not be complete until late 2007. Also, the eastbound I-4 exit ramp to Columbus Drive/50th Street is situated to the left-hand side of the highway (as opposed to its former right-hand side exit). This exit shift went into effect in spring 2006 and is part of the new, permanent interstate configuration.

In Tampa, the exit to 40th Street (SR 569) has been closed since late 2005 due to the ongoing reconstruction of I-4; it will not reopen due to a proposed connector highway with the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

The interchange with what is today I-75 was constructed in the early 1980s.

Orlando area

As Orlando grew in the 1970s and 1980s, traffic became a growing concern, especially after the construction of the original interchange with the East–West Expressway in 1973, which proved to become a principal bottleneck. The term "highway hostages" was coined in the 1980s to describe people stuck in long commutes to and from Orlando on I-4.^{[citation needed]}

I-4 in Altamonte Springs

In the early-to-mid 1990s, several interchanges near Kissimmee were constructed or upgraded to accommodate increasing traffic going to and from Walt Disney World. However, I-4's main lanes were not widened in the process. Around the same time, the Southern Connector was extended to I-4.^{[citation needed]}

The St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge, a two-span, six-lane replacement to the original four-lane bridge over the St. Johns River northeast of Orlando, was completed in 2004.

During the early 2000s, tolled express lanes were being planned in the Orlando area as a traffic congestion relief technique for rush hour commuters. The name for them was to be Xpress 400, numbered after the state road designation for I-4. The express lanes were slated to extend from Universal Orlando, east to SR 434 in Longwood, and tolls were to be collected electronically via transponders like SunPass and Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority's E-Pass, with prices dependent on the congestion of the eight main lanes. However, the project was effectively banned by the passage of the SAFETEA-LU Federal transportation bill in 2005, introduced by U.S. Representative John Mica. The plan for tolled express lanes, however, is still in the long term plans for I-4.

The eastbound exit to Robinson Street (SR 526) permanently closed on April 25, 2006, to make way for construction of the new eastbound onramp from SR 408. The westbound offramp to Gore Street was permanently closed in the same project on 2008-02-11.

The new overpass from I-4 west to John Young Parkway (County Road 423, CR 423) opened the morning of April 27, 2006.

2008 Pileup

On January 9, 2008, 70 vehicles were involved in a large pileup on I-4 near Polk City. The pileup was caused by an unexpected thick morning fog that was mixed with a scheduled—and approved—environmental burn by the Florida Wildlife Commission. The fog drifted across I-4, mixing with the smoke, reducing visibility to near-zero conditions. Four people were killed, and 38 were injured. The section of I-4 did not re-open until the next day, January 10.

Future

Interim improvements to the interchange at SR 408 were completed at the end of 2008. The rest of the SR 408 improvements are scheduled for the next decade. Intersections at US 192 and I-275 were completed in 2007. The remaining four-lane segment, from SR 44 to I-95, will eventually be widened to six lanes, with construction anticipated to begin in 2012.

Planning is underway for "ultimate" improvements to I-4 through Orlando from SR 435 (exit 75) east to SR 434 (exit 94). These plans involve adding express lanes to the highway, and the reconstruction of several major interchanges. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014.

The Florida High Speed Rail Authority has proposed a high-speed rail line traveling from Tampa to Orlando via the median of I-4, which is wide enough to carry trains because of failed promises to widen the freeway. However, Florida Governor Rick Scott halted plans in 2010.

Exit list

County	Location	Mile	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Hillsborough	Tampa	0.000	—	—	I-275 – St. Petersburg, Ocala, Tampa International Airport	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		1.154	1	1	SR 585 / 22nd Street, 21st Street
			2	2	SR 618 (I-4/Crosstown Connector) – Port of Tampa, Lee Roy Selmon Expressway	Connector under construction as of 2011, scheduled to open in 2013
		3.266	3	3	US 41 / 50th Street, Columbus Drive
		4.706	4	5	SR 574 (Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard)
		5.573	5	6	Orient Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Mango	6.683	6	7	US 92 (Hillsborough Avenue) / US 301 – Riverview, Zephyrhills
		8.610	7	9	I-75 – Ocala, Naples
		10.142	8	10	CR 579 / Mango Road – Mango, Thonotosassa
		13.876	9	14	McIntosh Road
		17.434	10	17	Branch Forbes Road
	Plant City	19.518	11	19	SR 566 (Thonotosassa Road)
		21.280	13	21	SR 39 (Buchman Highway) / Alexander Street – Zephyrhills
		22.596	14	22	SR 553 (Park Road)
		25.563	15	25	County Line Road
Polk	Lakeland	26.530	15A	27	SR 570 east (Polk Parkway) – Winter Haven, Bartow
		28.365	16	28	SR 546 to US 92
		30.675	17	31	SR 539 – Kathleen
		32.003	18	32	US 98 – Dade City
		33.440	19	33	SR 33 / CR 582
		37.894	20	38	SR 33
	Polk City	41.223	20A	41	SR 570 west (Polk Parkway) – Auburndale, Lakeland
		43.981	21	44	SR 559 – Polk City, Auburndale
		47.982	22	48	CR 557 – Lake Alfred, Winter Haven
	Davenport	54.733	23	55	US 27 – Haines City, Clermont
Osceola		57.723	24	58	CR 532 – Kissimmee, Poinciana
		59.663	24B	60	SR 429 north – Apopka
	Celebration	61.781	24C–E	62	SR 417 north / World Drive – Sanford, Celebration, Disney World, International Airport
		64.165	25	64	US 192 – Celebration, Kissimmee, Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios	Signed as exit 64A and 64B
		65.322	64C–D	65	Osceola Parkway – Animal Kingdom, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex
Orange	Lake Buena Vista	66.565	26A-B	67	SR 536 to SR 417 – Epcot, Downtown Disney	Signed as exits 67A and 6&B
		68.107	27	68	SR 535 – Kissimmee, Lake Buena Vista
		70.983	27A	71	Central Florida Parkway – Sea World	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Orlando	71.744	28	72	SR 528 east (Martin Andersen Beachline Expressway) – International Airport, Cape Canaveral
		73.732	29A	74A	SR 482 (Sand Lake Road)
		75.246	29B	74B	Universal	Westbound exit and entrance
		75.246	30	75	SR 435 (Kirkman Road) – Universal Boulevard	Signed as exits 75A (south) and 75B (north)
		76.359	31	77	Turnpike / SR 91 – Miami, Ocala
		77.760	31A	78	Conroy Road – The Mall at Millenia
		79.147	32	79	CR 423 (John Young Parkway)
		80.474	33	80	US 17 / US 92 / US 441 (Orange Blossom Trail)	Signed as exits 80A (south/west) and 80B (north/east) southbound; previously signed as exits 33A and 33B accordingly
		81.004	34	81A	Michigan Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		81.469	35	81	Kaley Avenue	Signed as exits 81B (east) and 81C (west) westbound
		82.116	36	82A	SR 408 (East–West Expressway)
		82.646	37	82B	Anderson Street – Amway Center, Downtown Orlando	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		82.636	39	82B	South Street – Amway Center, Downtown Orlando	Signed as exit 83 westbound
		83.792	41	83A	US 17 / US 92 / SR 50 (Colonial Drive) / Amelia Street
		84.279	42	84	Ivanhoe Boulevard
		85.135	43	85	Princeton Street
	Winter Park	85.890	44	86	Par Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		86.789	45	87	SR 426 (Fairbanks Avenue)
		87.767	46	88	SR 423 (Lee Road)
	Maitland	89.491	47	90	SR 414 (Maitland Boulevard)	Signed as exits 90A (east) and 90B (west) eastbound
Seminole	Altamonte Springs	91.631	48	92	SR 436 – Altamonte Springs, Apopka
		93.613	49	94	SR 434 – Longwood, Winter Springs
	Lake Mary	98.400	50	98	Lake Mary Boulevard – Lake Mary, Heathrow
	Sanford	100.628	51A	101A	CR 46A (Paola Road) – Heathrow
		101.366		101B	SR 417 south (Central Florida Greenway) – International Airport
		102.505	51	101C	SR 46 – Mount Dora
		103.997	52	104	US 17 / US 92
Volusia	Deltona	107.821	53	108	CR 4162 (Dirksen Drive/DeBary Avenue) – DeBary, Deltona
		110.636	53C	111	CR 4146 (Saxon Boulevard) – Deltona, Orange City	Signed as exits 111A (Deltona) and 111B (Orange City); previously signed as exits 53CA and 53CB accordingly
	Orange City	113.783	54	114	SR 472 – Deltona, DeLand
	Lake Helen	115.898	55	116	CR 4116 (Orange Camp Road) – Lake Helen
		118.456	56	118	SR 44 (New York Avenue) – New Smyrna Beach
	Daytona Beach	129.131	57	129	US 92 east	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		131.987	58	132	I-95 – Jacksonville, Miami SR 400 east – South Daytona	Signed as exits 132A (south) and 132B (north); SR 400 continues beyond I-95
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi      Concurrency terminus •      Closed/former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened

See also

• Hurricane Charley, sometimes referred to as the "I-4 Hurricane"

External links

Interstate 4 travel guide from Wikitravel

• Tampa Bay Interstates (Tampa-area reconstruction)
• I4Polk.com (Lakeland-area reconstruction)
• Trans4mation (Orlando-area reconstruction)