{"id":15690,"date":"2025-10-22T14:09:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/15690\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:09:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:09:23","slug":"extra-i-4-lanes-helping-commute-times-through-championsgate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/15690\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra I-4 lanes helping commute times through ChampionsGate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 It has now been six months since an extra lane was added to Interstate 4 in the ChampionsGate area.<\/p>\n<p>What You Need To Know<\/p>\n<p>Six months after opening, the congestion relief lanes are reducing commute times on I-4 in ChampionsGate<br \/>\n<br \/>The single extra lane in each direction opened in April between U.S. 27 and World Drive<br \/>\n<br \/>FDOT states the one additional lane in both directions of I-4 has cut down travel times by up to 30 minutes<br \/>\n<br \/>FDOT is currently working to add more lanes, I-4 Express between U.S.-27 and World Center Drive<\/p>\n<p>It was at the end of April when FDOT opened up the extra lane, called a congestion relief lane, in each direction of I-4 from U.S.-27 in Polk County to World Drive in Osceola County.<\/p>\n<p>That single lane in each direction has made a world of difference for drivers, like Matt Kenzig.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a 180 from the time frames that I experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kenzig drives from his home in Auburndale in Polk County to his job at Orlando International Airport.<\/p>\n<p>Spectrum News 13 drove with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mynews13.com\/fl\/orlando\/news\/2024\/12\/31\/2025--new-lanes-coming-to-i-4-in-championsgate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kenzig nearly a year ago,<\/a>\u00a0before the lane was added and before there was congestion relief.<\/p>\n<p>A 50-minute drive would sometimes take double the time to get through the backups.<\/p>\n<p>Now, just with the single extra lane, Kenzig shaves off a half hour each way most days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s from stop and go to flowing, it\u2019s legit flying,\u201d he said . \u201cThe speed limit is 65 mph, I can actually go 65.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The drive times and sensors show improving commute times.<\/p>\n<p>FDOT has noticed the changes for drivers as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cAdding this one additional lane in both directions has essentially cut down their travel times up to 30 minutes,\u201d said FDOT spokesman Matthew Richardson.<\/p>\n<p>But as Central Florida grows, so too will the traffic.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/movingi4forward.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FDOT is adding even more lanes to I-4<\/a>, including two tolled express lanes in each direction from U.S. 27 to World Center Drive near Disney World.<\/p>\n<p>Construction will take years, but with those congestion relief lanes already opened, FDOT hopes it will ease the pain driving through the work zone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want a stress-free drive getting there when you&#8217;re supposed to get there. Not stop and go traffic. These extra lanes will be a big help to make that happen,\u201d said Kenzig.<\/p>\n<p>Work is also currently underway to add a single I-4 express lane westbound from Universal to Disney.<\/p>\n<p>That should open up in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 It has now been six months since an extra lane was added to Interstate&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,2173,2175,2176,115,139,141,140,1976,278,729,2177,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-15690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-app-traffic-transit","10":"tag-app-traffic-and-transit","11":"tag-jerry-hume","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-osceola-county","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-traffic","19":"tag-traffic-and-transit","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}