DAYTONA BEACH — Drivers hurtling along Interstate 95 likely never notice it, and they shouldn’t, when gray pavement unites with bare, black asphalt.
From atop the Bellevue Avenue Bridge, Robert Parker pointed to the stark intersection of roadways. It is, he explained, where old highway meets new and one of the many ways traffic is kept moving while construction continues widening the thoroughfare that runs for 382 miles along Florida's Atlantic Coast.
All that remains to bring the entire highway to six lanes — from Miami to the Georgia state line — are just over three short miles in Volusia County.
That stretch, however, is some of the most complicated to reconstruct, crossing two interchanges at U.S. Highway 92 and at Interstate 4. The interchanges, dating back to the 1960s, are also being overhauled with new ramps, bridges and feeder roads to make traffic flow better and navigation easier.
“The difficulty is you have two major system interchanges,” said Parker, a project administrator and consultant to the Florida Department of Transportation. “It’s kind of eye-opening when you see it. Everything is a puzzle.”
Motorists will be happy to learn that the last puzzle pieces of the $205 million I-95 project are coming together, and that construction is likely to be completed by late 2018, about a year over schedule.
Hurricanes Matthew and Irma, other severe weather and stoppages for special events, such as NASCAR races and Bike Week, were responsible for the delays, said department spokesman Steve Olson.
Treacherous stretch
Mike Shannon, department secretary for District 5, which encompasses Volusia County, said that the project has gone smoothly, given the size and the complexity of the interchanges, which are in close proximity along I-95.
“Those have to work together,” he said of the interchanges. “A lot of the geometric issues on the ramps have been addressed with the new configuration.”
Drivers often white-knuckled their way through traffic moving at different speeds and merging in several locations where interstates and highways joined. It has long been a treacherous stretch.
Between 2012 and 2015, there were 743 crashes around the two I-95 interchanges, including 9 deaths. From 2015 to 2018, that number jumped 56 percent to 1,159 crashes, including 12 deaths, according to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Since construction began three years ago, the speed limit has been reduced through the construction zone, and signs have warned drivers of lane changes, detours, and their own speed through flashing radar displays.
"If there is anything," Parker said, "please pay attention to the posted speed limits in construction zones."
The additional lanes of interstate and newly constructed interchanges should eliminate many of the long-standing problems, including reducing weaving traffic through dedicated collector-distributor roads that provide more distance for vehicles merging on to exit and entrance ramps.
“When you can put people that want to slow down and get off exits away from people running 70 miles per hour, that’s a good thing,” Parker said.
The project also removes a left-hand ramp onto I-95 from U.S 92. That ramp forced drivers, who wanted to head west on I-4, to make a move worthy of stock car driver — the crossing of several lanes in less than a mile.
"That won't happen again," Parker said. "You are going to go to the right, and go under a tunnel bridge."
'Strategic location'
In addition to safety benefits, the revamped interstate improves traffic flow and increases capacity — a boon to the local and state economy.
The extra highway lanes and being at the heart of the newly constructed conjunction of I-4 and I-95 have made the area attractive for retailers looking to move goods throughout the state. National grocery chain Trader Joe’s has built a distribution on the east side of I-95, just north of Dunn Avenue, and another one is in the works for a manufacturer of medical and pharmaceutical devices.
Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Jim Cameron attended a ceremony in 2014 when Gov. Rick Scott jump-started the highway project, announcing plans to spend $246 million dollars on improvements to local roadways. The project was originally scheduled for 2020.
“We are at a strategic location at the I-95 and I-4 interchange,” Cameron said. “That was one of the primary reasons we got the (Trader Joe’s) facility. It was important we have the proper infrastructure in place for those distribution center trucks.”
Race fans making their way to Daytona International Speedway and students at nearby universities, such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona State College and Bethune-Cookman University, will also benefit from the improved flow of traffic. In addition to the I-95 project, a separate project will revamp International Speedway Boulevard, widening the road and creating dedicated turn lanes. New sidewalks should also make the gateway to Daytona Beach more pedestrian friendly.
“It’s not just for the visitors, but for people who want to shop, for students who attend school, for everyone that works along and drives those corridors every day,” said Lois Bollenback, executive director of the River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization, which includes Volusia and part of Flagler County.
When the project is completed, I-95 will end up with 26 miles of new highway in either direction, from State Road 44 in New Smyrna Beach to just north of U.S. 92. Those miles don’t even include more than a dozen new ramps and some 20 bridges. Construction, which began at the beginning of 2015, has been completed to just south of I-4.
In that time, workers have laid 165,000 tons of asphalt, poured more than 16,000 cubic yards of concrete, and erected 16,000 linear feet of concrete traffic barriers.
“It’s a big job,” Parker said.
He stood on the Tomoka Farms Road Bridge, watching the eastbound I-4 traffic below. Abutting the highway a dirt swath sliced toward an enormous embankment that would eventually become new roadway, taking vehicles over Interstate 95.
“You can’t imagine," he said, "the magnitude of work it takes.”