Improvements to I-75 coming in 2025

We’ve all seen it: Virtually every Friday by 3 pm, southbound traffic on Interstate 75 begins to slow down with vehicles stacking up at the County Road 484 exit to The Villages.

Traffic in the right lane slows because of the stopped vehicles, which forces many vehicles to swiftly merge into the middle lane, which then also slows to a crawl. The left, passing lane becomes packed and eventually, it’s stop and go all the way from County Road 326 south to Florida’s Turnpike in Sumter County. Or, as is often the case, a major crash or minor fender bender happens, and then traffic stops completely.

One out of nine days, all lanes on I-75 are closed due to an incident, according to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Every 13 hours, at least one lane of the crucial interstate highway is closed. The average duration of a lane blockage is three hours.

FDOT officials say they are well aware of the many traffic-flow issues along I-75 through Marion County and have plans to help solve the problems, including adding auxiliary lanes, widening bridges and other improvements.

Currently, the projects are in the environment and engineering analysis phase. Once right-of-way is procured and the design/build phase is completed, the department hopes to begin construction in the second quarter of 2025.

FDOT says it welcomes public input, and the agency is hosting public hearings about the projects in Ocala and in The Villages. The meetings take place at the Savannah Center, 1545 North Buena Vista Blvd., The Villages on Dec. 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and at the Ocala Hilton, 3600 SW 36^th Ave., on Dec. 13 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The meetings are also available online and by phone. Staff from the department will be available for questions and comments, along with a looping presentation and project graphics to show the plans.

For more information and links to details, visit cflroads.com/news/article/52695/upcoming-public-meeting-i-75-improvements and cflroads.com/project/452074-1

Lanes added, interchanges and bridges will be improved

The FDOT sees the clear need for the road improvements.

“I-75 experiences frequent congestion due to special event, holiday, and weekend traffic as well as road and lane blockages caused by weather and crashes,” it stated in the project materials. There is a “44-68% increase in traffic during spring break, Thanksgiving and winter holidays.”

The improvements aim to help with those overloaded conditions.

The addition of auxiliary lanes will increase I-75 to four lanes in each direction from State Road 44 in Sumter County north to CR 326 in Marion County. This will allow for the additional truck and freight traffic that is often generated from the warehouse operations on County Road 484 and the convergence of SR 44 and the turnpike.

Improvements to two interchanges are also planned: State Road 40 and CR 326.  Crosswalks and pedestrian facilities will be added to SR 40 along with dual left-turn lanes both north and southbound.

At CR 326, more improvements are slated. The northbound exit will have dual left- and right-turn lanes that are signalized; medians added to the eastbound side that will replace the current dual direction “suicide” turn lanes; and a new signal will be added just east of the current McDonald’s. This signal will also allow more orderly access into the Wendy’s and truck stop on the north side instead of the direct access driveways that are now often backed up by both truck and car traffic. Also planned are an additional northbound on-ramp and another left-turn lane for the southbound traffic heading east.

A big change for this area is a new two-lane, on-ramp access for westbound traffic to get on southbound I-75. Currently, a right-hand access loop steers westbound 326 traffic under I-75 around to the long loop to get on I-75 going south. The FDOT wants car traffic to use the new access lanes, and trucks to use the longer, safer way to accelerate and merge from the current loop on-ramp. The current on-ramp isn’t clearly marked and drivers expecting the traditional left turn onto I-75 often miss the right-hand access. The new on-ramp should help alleviate that issue.

After several incidents with trucks hitting bridges, including two at the 66^th St. bridge, the department is planning to widen the overpass bridges at SR 44, SW 66^th Street and SW 20^th Street. Complete replacement of bridges will be at County Road 475; SW 66^th Street; and NW 63^rd Street. The 66^th Street bridge was struck twice this year, in February and June, causing damage and closures to lanes on I-75 and on 66^th Street.