FDOT planning to open new I-4 rest stop in Sanford

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LONGWOOD, Fla. – A rest area along Interstate 4 in Longwood can only accommodate 30 semi-tractor trailer trucks. There is a plan to build a new location in Sanford with 132 spaces.

For citizens living near the existing rest stop, this task couldn’t come soon enough.

“We’ve had problems with diesel fumes and noise,” said Marianne King, who said the trucks were causing headaches, especially since the highway was widened. “Thanks to the extension, I can now see the trucks from my garden. “

“We live close enough that we hear the trucks downshifting and going into the truck stop,” said another resident, Harry Jaegerr.

The new truck parking area will be southeast of the interchange of I-4 and US Highway 17-92. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) said it would encompass 17 acres of land. Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine said it’s whatever it takes.

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“With those additions, truck drivers are protected. It will ease network considerations and give them a much better position to park,” he said, adding that it would solve the challenge of overcrowding in the rest area. “We had to put those ‘No Parking’ symptoms all over I-4 because they [the truckers] were parking along I-4. It’s dangerous. “

The Young family owns an asset near the future site and hopes FDOT will purchase their land.

“It would be nice for us if we were included in the recovery,” says Karen Young, who lives near the new truck site. “Otherwise, we’ll end up sitting next to a truck stop. “

It would be one of five new truck stops in Central Florida. The U. S. Department of Transportation approved a $180 million grant to build more than 900 truck parking spaces along I-4.

The design should be completed by 2026, and construction would start that summer.

FDOT said there are no plans to close the Longwood rest area, but expects the new lockdown in Sanford to congest.

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