Interstate 4 (I-4) is an east-west 132.298-mile (212.913 km) intrastateHighway 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.

 

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, SeaWorld Orlando 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.

 

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[5][6][7] (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. Sections of Beville Road 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 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.[12] 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.

 

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 2011.

 

Services

Along Interstate 4 are two pairs of rest areas - one in Polk County, east of Polk City; and another in Seminole County, north of Longwood. Both rest areas have rest rooms, vending machines, picnic tables, dog walk areas and nighttime security.