Florida

[1995hoo]

Thanks. Sounds like the key is to make sure she knows to call me ASAP when she gets the car so I can add it in the app. (She could do it too, but she can never remember passwords.)

[emory]

SunPass rental car query.

My wife is thinking about visiting her sister for a weekend this spring. We have a SunPass (attached with scotch tape and thus movable from car to car). If she flies down and rents a car and brings our device with her, and calls me to add it to our account before she leaves the rental lot, would that be sufficient to ensure the car rental place doesn't stick her with the daily SunPass convenience fee for using their account? She'd be flying into and out of Orlando MCO and using the Bee Line across to I-95, if that matters.

(Basically the goal is to make sure she doesn't get socked with some annoying fee when we already have a SunPass.)

Thanks in advance.

Be careful. Sometimes the rental company already offers a Sun Pass with the car plate attached to that Sun Pass. I've been able to place mine on the windshield in any rental car. Check beforehand with the rental company.

[jwolfer]

I noticed last weekend driving on I-95 NB toward the i-4 junction that new BGS show new exit number for US92... It will be some sort of CD road.. it shows exit 260ABC for US 92/i4/SR400.. no more exit 261... Didn't get pic sorry

Z981

Got a picture yesterday.  It's a little blurry sorry

Z981

[formulanone]

SunPass rental car query.

My wife is thinking about visiting her sister for a weekend this spring. We have a SunPass (attached with scotch tape and thus movable from car to car). If she flies down and rents a car and brings our device with her, and calls me to add it to our account before she leaves the rental lot, would that be sufficient to ensure the car rental place doesn't stick her with the daily SunPass convenience fee for using their account? She'd be flying into and out of Orlando MCO and using the Bee Line across to I-95, if that matters.

(Basically the goal is to make sure she doesn't get socked with some annoying fee when we already have a SunPass.)

Thanks in advance.

Be careful. Sometimes the rental company already offers a Sun Pass with the car plate attached to that Sun Pass. I've been able to place mine on the windshield in any rental car. Check beforehand with the rental company.

Avis uses an on-off switch which reveals/covers the transponder, but I'm not entirely sure they don't just charge the tag later on. I get billed later by the rental company. I never tried to use my own SunPass in lieu of their tolling system.

[wriddle082]

Here's a FL question that I'm not sure can be answered unless it's in person, but I might as well ask it...

What is the correct pronunciation of Thonotosassa?

[jhuntin1]

Here's a FL question that I'm not sure can be answered unless it's in person, but I might as well ask it...

What is the correct pronunciation of Thonotosassa?

I'll try to spell it phonetically based on my recollection: tha-no'-ta-sassa. I used to take that exit off I-4 all the time.

[seicer]

FIU pedestrian bridge collapses days after installation; police say multiple deaths, cars trapped

A pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed Thursday, just days after crews dropped an elevated 950-ton span in place in a project that was intended to give Florida International University students a safe route across the busy roadway.

The bridge crashed across six lanes of heavily traveled Tamiami Trail, crushing a still undetermined number of car and killing a still unclear number of people. Police on the scene said at least six people could be dead. The Florida Highway Patrol reported five or six cars were trapped under the bridge. Miami-Dade County police said at least eight cars had been crushed under the walkway, which was not yet open to student traffic.

--

"˜Instant' bridge aims to make a dangerous crossing safer for thousands of students

Instant bridge? Not quite, but in a single morning Florida International University dropped a new elevated pedestrian span into place over the Tamiami Trail to provide students a safe route over the perilous roadway for the first time.

Once it's finished in early 2019, the new pedestrian bridge will link FIU's Modesto A. Maidique Campus directly to the small suburban city of Sweetwater, where the university estimates 4,000 of its students live.

The rapid span installation was the result of months of preparation.

[bing101]

https://www.local10.com/news/florida/miami-dade/fiu-pedestrian-bridge-collapse-death-toll


Update 6 people reported dead at the Florida Bridge collapse.

[roadman65]

Lots of things going to happen in the future with the outcome of all this.

[roadman65]

Well it looks like the SR 408 won't be extended but another alternative.

http://www.floridasturnpike.com/colonial-parkway.html The Colonial Parkway being studied by FTE and not CFX.   

[UCFKnights]

Well it looks like the SR 408 won't be extended but another alternative.

http://www.floridasturnpike.com/colonial-parkway.html The Colonial Parkway being studied by FTE and not CFX.

I don't think the SR408 extension is dead from what I heard, just that this is another alternative being considered. For all intents and purposes, this is just another route possibility, with a different ownership. Even after FTE expressed interest and begain studying their route, CFX proceeded to spend money studying their routes. Someone's going to build it, and soonish.

[RoadPelican]

Even with SR 50 getting widened to 6 lanes recently, that area is under tremendous pressure from developers with Avalon Park and Lake Pickett growing by leaps and bounds.  That area needs immediate expressway access, they should have extended SR 408 out to the SR 50/520 split back in the 90's.

[jwolfer]

Even with SR 50 getting widened to 6 lanes recently, that area is under tremendous pressure from developers with Avalon Park and Lake Pickett growing by leaps and bounds.  That area needs immediate expressway access, they should have extended SR 408 out to the SR 50/520 split back in the 90's.

It would have helped if SR 50 and 520 had limited access a long time ago.

Like so many roads in Florida that were once rural 4 lane divided highways that functioned like freeways but now are clogged with a traffic light every couple hundred feet. ( i.e. US27 in Davenport and Clermont) Rending them useless for regional traffic

Z981

[Alex]

The grand opening for the last CFX sections of Wekiva Parkway is next Saturday (03/31). A few of us are planning on meeting up and driving the new road that morning. The ceremony follows a 5k run and is scheduled from 9 to 10 am. Probably won't be able to get there in time for that, but we'll see. Anyone else going?

[1995hoo]

The grand opening for the last CFX sections of Wekiva Parkway is next Saturday (03/31). A few of us are planning on meeting up and driving the new road that morning. The ceremony follows a 5k run and is scheduled from 9 to 10 am. Probably won't be able to get there in time for that, but we'll see. Anyone else going?

To confirm, this is the piece between that isolated northern segment and the main portion that links down to I-4? So, for example, if you're coming from Sanford and you want to bypass central Orlando and Disney World, you can take Route 46 west, make the left onto Wekiva, and follow it all the way down to I-4? That is outstanding news. (We drove the open segments this past Christmas week en route from Sanford to Fort Myers and liked the route.)

[roadman65]

Well it looks like the SR 408 won't be extended but another alternative.

http://www.floridasturnpike.com/colonial-parkway.html The Colonial Parkway being studied by FTE and not CFX.

I don't think the SR408 extension is dead from what I heard, just that this is another alternative being considered. For all intents and purposes, this is just another route possibility, with a different ownership. Even after FTE expressed interest and begain studying their route, CFX proceeded to spend money studying their routes. Someone's going to build it, and soonish.

CFX eliminated that part near the curve before its east end as ROW was left for a semi directional interchange.  Unless they plan to realign it north of SR 50 causing it to use part of Challenger Parkway to do it. 

It be interesting though to see a contest to see who gets their roadway done, though.

[FLRoads]

The grand opening for the last CFX sections of Wekiva Parkway is next Saturday (03/31). A few of us are planning on meeting up and driving the new road that morning. The ceremony follows a 5k run and is scheduled from 9 to 10 am. Probably won't be able to get there in time for that, but we'll see. Anyone else going?

To confirm, this is the piece between that isolated northern segment and the main portion that links down to I-4? So, for example, if you're coming from Sanford and you want to bypass central Orlando and Disney World, you can take Route 46 west, make the left onto Wekiva, and follow it all the way down to I-4? That is outstanding news. (We drove the open segments this past Christmas week en route from Sanford to Fort Myers and liked the route.)

Yes, its that missing piece! It also includes the SR 453 connector that will link with SR 46 between U.S. 441 and Sorrento.

[1995hoo]

The grand opening for the last CFX sections of Wekiva Parkway is next Saturday (03/31). A few of us are planning on meeting up and driving the new road that morning. The ceremony follows a 5k run and is scheduled from 9 to 10 am. Probably won't be able to get there in time for that, but we'll see. Anyone else going?

To confirm, this is the piece between that isolated northern segment and the main portion that links down to I-4? So, for example, if you're coming from Sanford and you want to bypass central Orlando and Disney World, you can take Route 46 west, make the left onto Wekiva, and follow it all the way down to I-4? That is outstanding news. (We drove the open segments this past Christmas week en route from Sanford to Fort Myers and liked the route.)

Yes, its that missing piece! It also includes the SR 453 connector that will link with SR 46 between U.S. 441 and Sorrento.

Thanks. Good to know that for the next time we're in the area. Also provides an alternate way to the Turnpike towards Miami if we don't feel like taking our usual 417 route around to the east.

Regarding a different part of the state, I saw a tweet saying the I-75 express lanes opened yesterday. Not going to bother asking my brother-in-law about it. He lives in Pembroke Pines and works at FLL Airport, but he's only used the I-595 express lanes once (when we were visiting and he forgot to get over in time to exit the Turnpike to the I-595 free lanes), so I doubt he'll be using the I-75 lanes anytime soon!

[1995hoo]

BTW, sort of related to my prior post, I was looking at the websites about Florida's various express lane projects and I'm rather astonished to find they're proposing to build ETLs on the Turnpike from the Golden Glades all the way to Fort Pierce (approximately 88 miles). I wonder what it would cost to drive those end-to-end–and they'll be ETLs, not HO/T lanes (it sounds like the existing I-95 Express is to be the only HO/T segment). I assume the standard toll would be added to the express lane toll.

http://floridaexpresslanes.com

[D-Dey65]

I thought I posted this already, but 10 days ago, I shot a video of the new segment of I-75 going over the new bridge over US 98 and FL 50.

And I still haven't got any info on the clearance of the bridge over US 98/FL 50.

[VTGoose]

I thought I posted this already, but 10 days ago, I shot a video of the new segment of I-75 going over the new bridge over US 98 and FL 50.

And I still haven't got any info on the clearance of the bridge over US 98/FL 50.

Is that project done yet? What was the need to almost double the clearance (sorry, I don't have the exact number myself) of the interstate over the highway?

[D-Dey65]

Is that project done yet? What was the need to almost double the clearance (sorry, I don't have the exact number myself) of the interstate over the highway?

Some truck smashed into it, and I suppose a group of one kind or another thought FDOT needed to make raising the bridge part of the improvement project.

Anyway, besides the low clearance, one of the major problems I had with it was the short left-turn lanes to the on-ramps.

[Max Rockatansky]

Is that project done yet? What was the need to almost double the clearance (sorry, I don't have the exact number myself) of the interstate over the highway?

Some truck smashed into it, and I suppose a group of one kind or another thought FDOT needed to make raising the bridge part of the improvement project.

Anyway, besides the low clearance, one of the major problems I had with it was the short left-turn lanes to the on-ramps.

Traffic backups were always a problem at that ramp given the odd configuration for southbound I-75 traffic.  Cars would tend to back up through the traffic light for the northbound exit given the left turn lane for southbound I-75 was ahead of the light.  I never thought clearance was the issue but rather a bad traffic pattern that could have been remedied by a left turn lane behind the traffic light.  You can kind of see how the problem would develop on this GSV image from 2016:

https://www.google.com/maps/@28.5233261,-82.2362053,3a,75y,237.22h,89.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s05QFjFVwF0OmJxKFMDj75w!2e0!5s20160801T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[roadman65]

Is that going to be a SPUI or a DDI?  Whatever, either of them would eliminate a back up.  Too bad further south at SR 54 they did not design a SPUI as that one needs it. The improvement did nothing as still making a left off of NB 75 still has to wait for the SB ramp on the other side to turn green.  The queue for that signal backs up into the NB ramps signal.

Personally I do not see why the two lights cannot be timed better.  When the NB and SB ramps turn green that next signal should be green to prevent back ups from occurring beneath the overpass.

[Brian556]

Is that going to be a SPUI or a DDI?  Whatever, either of them would eliminate a back up.  Too bad further south at SR 54 they did not design a SPUI as that one needs it. The improvement did nothing as still making a left off of NB 75 still has to wait for the SB ramp on the other side to turn green.  The queue for that signal backs up into the NB ramps signal.

Personally I do not see why the two lights cannot be timed better.  When the NB and SB ramps turn green that next signal should be green to prevent back ups from occurring beneath the overpass.

Because its Florida. They don't know how to time a light or sign a double turn