- March 6, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
Attention, State Road 429 motorists: There will be a week's worth of closures next week as the State Road 516 Lake/Orange Expressway nears completion.
Central Florida Expressway Authority crews will be working on hanging eight steel bridge beam girders for the new State Road 429 and S.R. 526 interchange near Schofield Road.
As a result, every night from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, March 8, through Saturday, March 14, northbound S.R. 429 from Schofield Road to New Independence Parkway is scheduled to close for road work. Drivers will take a detour at the exit at Schofield Road and travel north on Avalon Road to New Independence Parkway.
Nightly from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, March 8, through Saturday, March 14, southbound S.R. 429 at Schofield Road is scheduled to close for work. Drivers will be directed to exit at Schofield Road and enter southbound S.R. 429 using the Schofield Road on-ramp.
Brian Hutchings, senior manager of community relations for the CFX, said the 65-ton beams will be moved in place at night to limit the impact to traffic as well as for the safety of CFX crews.
Hutchings said the work on the interchange is a major milestone for the construction of S.R. 516, which began one-and-one-half years ago. The 4.4-mile corridor will serve as a critical connection between Lake and Orange counties.
The estimated cost of construction is $546 million.
S.R. 516 is being constructed in three segments. It features a wildlife tunnel to protect the Florida Wildlife Corridor and a new multi-use trail as a critical component of the Florida Coast-to-Coast Trail system.
"Having the framework now in place for the new (S.R.) 516/S.R. 429 interchange will be tremendous," Hutchings said while standing on the dirt that soon will become an off-ramp for S.R. 516. "Folks are really going to see work starting to move more quickly now that we have this in place."
With the tremendous growth in Horizon West and on the county line between Lake and Orange, Hutchings said the expressway will serve as a way to improve east-west connectivity, regional mobility, travel times and more.
The first section of S.R. 516, which spans from S.R. 429 to County Road 455, is expected to open in spring 2027.
"That's going to be important to help relieve some of the congestion on Schofield Road by providing a direct connect into S.R. 429," Hutchings said.
Work will commence on the next two sections of S.R. 516, with the entire project that will reach to U.S. 27 estimated to be complete in 2029.
Once S.R. 516 is completed, Hutchings said an estimated 19,000 cars will travel on it per day, relieving that traffic off local roads.
"People traveling through here (from Lake to Orange counties), there's not really a good way to get between the two," Hutchings said. "If there's an accident or some other type of impact, people can get stuck in traffic for considerable amounts of time. And if there's an emergency, that impacts people. So it's quality of life, primarily people being able to get from point A to point B in a reliable, safe manner. This road will provide it."
The expressway also will feature a half-mile section that is a pilot project that will charge electric vehicles at highway speed.
"The technology and advances in vehicles has been astounding over the last few years with smart cars and electric vehicles," Hutchings said. "This is really a proof-of-concept about how you would build this type of road and how cars would operate."
There will be a specially-equipped fleet that will have receptors that will charge cars as drivers go over the road, he said.
"This is the most innovative project we've ever built," Hutchings said. "We're really excited about the range of not only the practical applications for being able to provide that new east-west connectivity but also the range of innovations that we have."
The expressway also will have tolling structures and signs powered by solar power.
