State Road 528 may get express lanes, plaza in Brevard

VIERA — Sometime next decade, Beachline Expressway commuters in Brevard County may grab gasoline and food at a turnpike-style service plaza before buzzing directly to Port Canaveral using a toll express lane.

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise and Florida Department of Transportation officials are adding two driver-friendly features — express lanes and a service plaza — to the engineering plans of a future State Road 528 widening project.

"I personally travel that road a lot because I go back and forth to the beach, and I would love a place to stop and use the restroom. I'm sure other people feel the same. Or even fuel up, in case you forget," Shannon Estep, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise planning supervisor, told the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization last week.

"It's about an hour trip back to Orlando from the beach, so it would be great to have something like that there," Estep said.

Construction crews will eventually expand SR 528 from four to six lanes in Brevard, accommodating projected passenger and cargo traffic generated by Port Canaveral expansion projects.

Construction on the widening project is tentatively scheduled to start in 2022. The estimated price tag to widen SR 528 between Interstate 95 and the port, as of February: $912 million. This fiscal year, FDOT has budgeted $5.3 million for engineering design work to determine how All Aboard Florida rail service would impact the project, said Leigh Holt, TPO multi-modal program manager.

Frank O'Dea, FDOT director of transportation development, told the TPO that an express lane could provide "a direct connect" from I-95 to Port Canaveral.

"If I'm going to the port and I want to get there a lot quicker, I can choose to pay a toll, zip right along through the center, and not worry about the local traffic," O'Dea said.

"Local traffic that's already using the facility, they'll be able to get on, use it just like they are now, and not mix with that extra traffic that's going to the port. So that's kind of the vision of where we see this going," he said.

Toll collections could help pay to widen Beachline causeways crossing the Indian and Banana rivers — ambitious undertakings that O'Dea estimated will cost "probably a couple hundred million dollars."

FDOT has not budgeted money yet for Beachline right-of-way acquisition or construction costs, O'Dea said. He said it is too early to tell if express lanes would be managed by a private-public partnership, like on Interstate 4.

In July 2014, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise bought the 22-mile "Beachline East" from FDOT. Extending eastward from State Road 520 in Orange County, this roadway system splits into two branches: SR 528 (to State Road 524) and State Road 407 (to State Road 405).

Estep said the Beachline service plaza would be located somewhere between SR 520 and SR 524.

Brevard County Commissioner Robin Fisher drew laughs from the TPO board when he admitted "being one that's almost run out of gas on 528." He said the service plaza would likely impact gas stations near I-95 and SR 520. Estep said her agency will likely build the plaza in a rural Beachline area with no nearby commercial activity.

TPO Executive Director Bob Kamm called the Beachline "a critical roadway for the entire state" that is governed by FDOT, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise and the Central Florida Expressway Authority. He asked whether turnpike officials could manage the entire highway in the future.

"The turnpike deals with toll facilities. So if it's going to become a toll facility — and the turnpike has far more resources for this kind of roadway project than the (FDOT) district does — it may be advantageous for the district, the turnpike and for the community to have it all under a single management entity," Kamm said.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter