The Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) I-4 Ultimate project was recently honored with a top award in the 2023 America’s Transportation Awards competition for the Southern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (SASHTO) Region.

The I-4 Ultimate project was honored with the title of Best in Operations Excellence, Large category – a category that highlights the efforts of large-scale projects in the region that cost more than $200 million in scope. I-4 Express, which will be extended as part of the I-4 Beyond the Ultimate program, was a big reason for the award. As America’s Transportation Awards noted on the organization’s website:

“With this major reconstruction, the biggest innovation was the I-4 Express, which consists of two tolled managed lanes in each direction to improve travel time reliability.”

I-4 Express is currently being extended as part of the Interstate 4 (I-4) and Sand Lake Road (State Road (S.R.) 482) interchange construction project. Two westbound, barrier-separated, express lanes are being built from west of Sand Lake Road to connect to the existing express lanes near Kirkman Road (S.R. 435). These lanes will transition to a single, buffer-separated express lane in the westbound direction from west of Sand Lake Road and tie in just west of Central Florida Parkway. This express lane will be constructed in three separate projects, with the finished lane extending from west of Sand Lake Road to west of State Road 536.

The other projects building sections of the single express lane include the ongoing I-4 and Daryl Carter Parkway interchange project and work that will begin soon at I-4 and Apopka-Vineland Road (S.R. 535).

America’s Transportation Awards finalists comprise the highest scoring projects from each region of the country from a list of 81 nominees. As a top contender, the I-4 Beyond the Ultimate project will soon compete for two 2023 America’s Transportation Awards national prizes.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) will unveil the grand prize recipient and the people’s choice winner at its annual meeting held in November in Indianapolis. Both the grand prize and the people’s choice winners will receive $10,000 towards their preferred scholarship or charity.