A few months after opening, what are the complaints about I-4 Ultimate?
The largest reconstruction of Interstate 4 since the 132-mile highway was first built in 1958 finished just a few months ago. It includes the first toll lanes on I-4.
Teauna Krajacic is an "I-4 Warrior" on overdrive. The infectious disease nurse and mother of two drives her son, William, 37 miles from their Kissimmee home to his special-needs school in Apopka, then 27 miles to her job at Orlando Health Dr. Phillips.
Krajacic has been happy since the $2.4 billion I-4 Ultimate was finished.
She says the general use, or free lanes, were great when they opened last year. But when the express toll lanes between Kirkman Road and State Road 434 opened in February, she was on it. The cost to drive all 21 miles is between $3.00 and $3.50 now, but the state will later begin charging more when traffic is heavier.
WESH 2 asked her about that higher toll payment, as we sped past a traffic jam in the free lanes.
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"If it saves us time so we can be more efficient in our day, it's absolutely worth it," she said.
Nicodemme Jean-Baptiste says he's okay with tolls. His business depends on it.
He owns ConveLabs, which provides mobile blood collection services for people in their homes. Time is not just money.
"Time is health! You know, the money is there but we're more focused on a patient's health. Some of our patients are immunocompromised so therefore, the physician needs to get the results right away so when we go out to collect the samples, we need to be able to get to the laboratory right away," he said.
For now, the introductory toll rate makes the time-sensitive decision to get samples to labs, an easy one.
"I know it may run, you know, may raise the prices but to us, like I said, it still benefits our patients. That's what's important," Jean-Baptiste said.
The goal of the project was to handle the crush of current and future traffic.
Before the seven-year project began in early 2015, the stretch between State Road 434 and Kirkman Road, handled between 150,000 and 218,000 vehicles daily, on between six and eight lanes.
Now, with eight free lanes and four toll lanes, the road is designed to handle between 287,000 and 336,000 vehicles daily -- Our projected traffic in 2032.
Ramona Gray, a convertible-loving employee at Emerald Plumbing, remembers how clogged it used to be.
"It was a parking lot," she said.
Still, she says the new express lanes aren't worth the cost to her.
She says the new, wider, smoother free lanes are just fine. And while the state claims it needed to put express toll lanes in, to cover half the project cost, to provide the free lanes, she thinks taxpayers got a raw deal.
"I feel like we're being charged twice! Florida taxpayers paid for this, and now the constituents of Florida are paying for it again," Gray said. "I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of taking more money out of my pocket to use a road that should be free for everybody to use."
One troubling byproduct of the new express lanes is the temptation for some drivers who feel the need to speed.
Some have been going twice the speed limit.
One driver was clocked going 131 miles per hour just days after the express lanes opened.
That landed the driver a $1,000 fine and could lead to a suspended license.
Lt. Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol says the express lanes have turned into the Daytona 500 for way too many.
Since the toll lanes opened on Feb. 26 and through April 30, many drivers have been ticketed for going at least 20 miles an hour over the posted speed limit.
"Drivers have to realize, speed limit signs will be on the walls. That's for both the mainline and the express lanes. And it's 60 miles per hour for the most part and they have to obey the speed limit," Montes said.
She and other law enforcement officers have raised concerns about other parts of the I-4 Ultimate, that have less to do with drivers, and more to do with design.
First, traffic suddenly slows or stops westbound near Ivanhoe Boulevard, when the four free lanes drop down to three.
Second, when exiting an express lane, drivers have to quickly but carefully shuttle across four general use lanes to get to an interstate exit.
"There is enough time to get over. It may not be as much as you would like. But if you plan ahead and know what your plan is, to move from the left lane all the way over to your exit, it can be done in a safe manner," Montes said.
Perhaps the biggest concern from public safety officials is the width of the emergency lanes on the tolled portion. On the right, it's pretty consistently wide enough for you to pull over in the event of a flat tire, crash, or medical issue. But on the left, it can be as narrow as a couple of feet.
"There are a lot of areas on that left shoulder that are not adequate for a car to be stopped, They would be in the travel lane, therefore, causing an issue for the drivers that are traveling. And a potential crash? It could cause a crash absolutely. We never want somebody stopping in a travel lane," Montes said.
As for quick access when crashes do happen in the express lanes, first responders have been practicing opening slide gates to get emergency vehicles inside from general use lanes.
"We can't plan for everything, but I think people can feel comfortable driving in those express lanes, knowing if an emergency happens, we can get them the help just as quickly as we can on the mainline," Montes said.
Which has Montes giving both the tolled and non-tolled lanes pretty high overall marks.
"Right now we think it's a big improvement and we'll continue to kind of monitor it to see how it goes," she said.
Perhaps the biggest improvement is to the once-notorious Fairbanks curve, where crashes, especially in wet weather, were common for decades.
Today, it's straighter, more level and with a gritty new surface that grips tires.
For now, the new I-4 is giving drivers choices on the most expensive highway project in Florida history.
A year behind schedule, and $125 million over budget, but now open for business.