Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that improvements to the Interstate 75 interchange at Fruitville Road in Sarasota will be fast-tracked.
At a Bradenton news conference Friday morning, DeSantis said the state would soon break ground on an interchange revamp along I-75 in Fruitville, well ahead of when construction on the project was scheduled to begin in 2030.
“Because of Moving Florida Forward, it will be completed in 2027. So, ahead of schedule, fully funded and years ahead of when it would have even broken ground,” DeSantis said.
The intersection’s new interchange design will transform the traditional cloverleaf configuration into a diverging diamond, which Desantis says will improve traffic and overall capacity for daily drivers.
“This redesign will significantly reduce congestion and smooth logistics in the state once these improvements are completed,” DeSantis said
Diverging diamonds are a type of interchange that temporarily shifts directions of traffic in both directions on an interstate crossroad to the opposite side of the road. In 2017, a diverging diamond interchange at University Parkway and I-75 became the first of its kind in Florida. Since then, the interchanges have become a popular method in the state for improving traffic flow.
DeSantis announces major I-75 upgrades
The $192 million project is expected to widen I-75 along a 2-mile stretch, from Palmer Boulevard to north of Fruitville Road, as crews reconstruct the existing six-lane highway. Additional lanes will be added and the existing bridges over Fruitville Road will also be replaced, according to the Florida Department of Transportation’s website.
Additionally, about 1.6 miles of Fruitville Road will be widened from Honore Avenue to east of Coburn Road.
DeSantis said FDOT predicts the improvements “will increase daily volume capacity by more than 40,000 drivers.”
The project’s fast-track is part of the Moving Florida Forward initiative, which FDOT says focuses on critical improvements “to ensure that transportation infrastructure can meet the demands of current and future residents and visitors.”
