I-4 Ultimate Visionary, Former Congressman John Mica Inaugurates New Express Lanes

Former Congressman John Mica, an I-4 Ultimate visionary, inaugurated the freeway's new express lanes on Tuesday. The lanes, largely facilitated by Mica's work as House Transportation Chairman, will officially open on Saturday.

"Pleased to be one of the first to ride on the new I-4 lanes... In my federal legislation, I required free lanes remain free. A public private partnership is providing new express lanes that will be paid for by users. With traditional public financing, it would require 28 more years to achieve this capacity."

Joining Mica were his former Chief of Staff and Transportation Commission member Rusty Roberts, and Florida Secretary of Transportation Anath Prasad.

Mica sat down last spring with the Local News for an interview to discuss the future of the I-4 project and what lies ahead:

"I-4 was a sticky one because I've always opposed tolls on the interstate. There has never been enough money to provide additional capacity to I-4. You could do some repairs but gas tax revenues are diminishing so that was a challenge; but I knew we needed to expand I-4. I finally became elected as Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure committee.

"But to solve Orlando's problems I also needed to solve the country's problems. The reason I opposed tolls is because people already paid for them once.

"My solution was this, and it was rather clever I must say: you could allow states or entities to use tolling but you couldn't toll the existing lanes. You could take the inside median, the right of way, the shoulders to bond out the project and expand. What's interesting about I-4 now is that there is still more than a decade of work to be done. The first phase is from Sand Lake to 434. There are five more phases to the project. This twenty miles was 2.4 billion dollars.

"We had about a billion dollars from existing funds but we couldn't have expanded. So by using the extra space, they were able to add new lanes and toll them, while leaving the existing lanes that were free before, to continue to be free in the future. Any lanes that were free before had to be free after, that was my stipulation."

Mica's moniker as "Mr. Transportation" first began to grow during his tenure in the State Legislature in the 1970s when he successfully advocated for a road extension leading to what now comprises MCO's terminal A and B, a move criticized at the time, but one lauded by all in retrospect.

Mica's transportation legacy continues beyond the I-4 project. The new intermodal station and terminal C are set to open in about a year to Brightline and Sunrail passengers, all projects the Congressman shepherded during his time in office. The I-4 Ultimate project will continue as well, with several new express lanes to be added beyond the recently modified corridor.

For more information on the I-4 Ultimate project, visit i4ultimate.com.