Florida wants private investors to pay for the Lexus Lanes

State seeks investors to help foot bill to build I-4 toll lanes

Section 1512 of the recently passed federal transportation bill is filled with technical jargon, but one part is perfectly clear: The law ends a 7-year-old ban on adding tolls to Interstate 4.

Now the Florida Department of Transportation wants to entice companies to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build so-called "Lexus lanes" down the middle of I-4, Orlando's main transit artery.

Without plenty of private money, possibly approaching $900 million, the long-anticipated makeover of traffic-clogged I-4 will not start in 2014, as FDOT anticipates. In fact, it might not start at all.

So far, the state has put aside just 43 percent, or $857 million, of the more than $2 billion needed to add the toll lanes and to rebuild 20 miles of I-4 from Kirkman Road in west Orange County to State Road 434 in Seminole County.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-07-08/news/os-interstate-4-tolls-20120708_1_lexus-lanes-toll-lanes-toll-money