The highway interstate system that you likely use every day is celebrating 70 years of being federally recognized.
Action News Jax Traffic Anchor KaJéza Hawkins spoke with the Florida Department of Transportation and Florida drivers about the development of the interstate throughout the decades.
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Northeast Florida is home to several major interstates, including Interstate 10, I-95, and I-295 in Jacksonville.
“I-10 starts here and ends in California, and hits every state in between. So this is kind of a really interesting cross section right here on the interstate,” Hampton Ray, FDOT outreach manager, said.
Ray said the department is proud of how the interstate system has grown since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1956.
“Through the years, we’ve seen a lot of growth … we’ve added a lot of lanes, we’ve improved a lot of capacity. And we’ve also raised our infrastructure taller to make it safer for commercial vehicles, safer for vessels, as well as improving communities,” Ray said.
That growth has also meant decades of construction along major corridors.
While the work can mean slowdowns for drivers, some, like Prince, say the end result is worth it.
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“The construction … it’s doing what it needs to do. Of course it means when they work, it’s going to slow down some things. But if you look at the overall project, they’re building on the roads all over America. It’s moving kind of fast,” Prince, a Florida driver, said.
Drivers in Jacksonville have had a front-row seat to that change.
One major example is the $176 million I-10 widening project.
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FDOT has been working on the project for the past six years along nearly five miles of I-10, from I-295 to I-95.
The project is expected to wrap up later this year.
“We are so excited to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States as well as the 70th anniversary of our interstate system. It really is a transportation story for Florida,” Ray said.
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