The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) is a

highway authority A highway authority is a government organization responsible for public roads. India The National Highways Authority of India is the national authority for the management of a network of over 60,000 km of national highways in India. The Auth ...

responsible for construction, maintenance and operation of

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

s in five counties in the

Greater Orlando The Orlando metropolitan area (officially, for U.S. census purposes, the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area) is an inland metropolitan area in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. Its principal cities ...

area (specifically

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Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Vsse Yvholv in Muscogee language, Creek, also spelled Asi-yahola), named Billy Powell at birth, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfa ...

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Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

, and Brevard Counties). , the agency operates all or part of 10 toll roads in the area, totaling . The authority was created in 2014 as the legal successor of the Orlando–Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA), which only had authority in Orange County, and it was merged with the Osceola County Expressway Authority in 2018. CFX is not the only operator in the region; other toll roads are built directly by the state government through

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) is a unit of the Florida Department of Transportation that operates toll roads in Florida. The current executive director is Nicola Liquori. History The Florida State Turnpike Authority was authorized by t ...

. CFX operates an

electronic toll collection Electronic toll collection (ETC) is a wireless system to automatically collect the usage fee or Road pricing, toll charged to vehicles using toll roads, HOV lanes, toll bridges, and toll tunnels. It is a faster alternative which is replacing Tol ...

system known as E-PASS, one of the first systems of its kind in the United States, whose transponders are free and fully interoperable with SunPass,

Peach Pass Peach Pass is an electronic toll collection system in use in the U.S. state of Georgia, which is currently used primarily for high-occupancy toll lanes and express toll lanes on Interstate 75 (I-75), I-85, and I-575 in metropolitan Atlanta. Pea ...

, and NC QuickPass. Since 2018, CFX also accepts

E-ZPass E-ZPass Interagency Group (E-ZPass Group trade name and E-ZPass product brand) is an electronic toll collection system used on toll roads, toll bridges, and toll tunnels in the eastern half of the United States. The group itself is composed of ...

transponders and offers its own E-ZPass-compatible transponder, Uni, for an additional charge.

Jurisdiction

CFX officially defines its system as eight toll roads in the Central Florida area, with an additional road currently under construction. Tolls on any system roads are used to fund construction and maintenance projects throughout the entire system. On some roads, CFX only has jurisdiction on certain segments; the rest of the road is controlled by

(if tolled) or the

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

(if non-tolled). The table below concerns only the CFX-controlled portions of the roads.

Non-system

In addition to the above tollways, CFX operates toll plazas on two "non-system" roads. These roads are managed under special agreements with a local governmental body, and tolls collected on them only fund the specific road.

History

CFX was founded in 1963 for the purpose of building the Bee Line Expressway, and soon built the East-West Expressway. Many sections of the current expressway system, such as the connection of SR 528 from Sand Lake Road to I-4, the sections of SR 417 in Seminole and Osceola counties, and SR 429 south of Seidel Road, were built by the

, and their toll facilities are managed by the same. Beginning in 2007, CFX began transitioning its signage from FHWA Series E modified typeface to signs that use the new Clearview typeface. The newest addition to the CFX system is an extension of Maitland Boulevard ( State Road 414) known as the John Land Apopka Expressway. The expressway opened on May 15, 2009. The project was inherited from the

, which referred to it as the "Apopka Bypass". Planning is also underway for an extension of State Road 429 known as the Wekiva Parkway. In addition, SR 408 underwent a massive overhaul, including the relocation of its two main toll plazas, large sections of widening, and expansion of a bridge over Lake Underhill. In 2010, CFX was attempting to keep the average toll to $0.11 per mile. The current 25-year plan, the "2040 Master Plan", was approved in May 2016. Included are two new toll connections to

Brevard County Brevard County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. It is on the Atlantic coast of eastern Central Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county se ...

(including an extension of SR 408), a southern bypass of SR 417 to

Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned highway, unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximate ...

south of St. Cloud, a connection bypassing the three remaining signalized intersections on SR 414, and a connection from the Western Beltway to U.S. Highway 27 south of Clermont. A 2013

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

investigation into the CFX, found a "culture of corruption," involving gifts and campaign donations. CFX was criticized for firing the Director who was attempting to stop this corruption, replacing him with a legislator with no experience of running a toll operation. The job paid over $175,000 annually.

Canceled projects

The Central Connector, known by the

as State Road 529Orange County Comptroller - Official Records
book 5045 page 2928 (SR 529), was a proposed

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and mainten ...

planned to parallel Orange Avenue ( SR 527) between downtown Orlando and the Beachline Expressway. The project was canceled in 1991 after much local opposition.

References

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External links

Central Florida Expressway Authority
Transportation in Orange County, Florida Toll road authorities of the United States