Florida State Road 528
State Road 528, alternatively named the Martin Andersen Beachline Expressway, is a partially-tolled freeway in the U.S. state of Florida; it is maintained by the Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, the Central Florida Expressway Authority, and the Florida Department of Transportation. Spanning approximately along a west–east axis, it connects Interstate 4 in Orlando with I-95, Titusville, and Cape Canaveral on the Space Coast. It passes close to the tourist areas of Orlando, including SeaWorld and Universal Orlando, and serves the north entrance to Orlando International Airport. Near its east end, it passes over the Intracoastal Waterway on the Emory L. Bennett Causeway, and ends at SR A1A and SR 401 near Port Canaveral.
Martin Andersen, a retired publisher, used his influence to get the original stretch of road built in the 1960s.
The entire Beachline is compatible with the SunPass, E-Pass, Peach Pass, NC Quick Pass, and E-ZPass electronic toll collection transponders on both mainline plazas and interchange tolls.
Route description
The westernmost of the Beachline Expressway, from I-4 to SR 482 near the airport, is known as the Beachline West Expressway and is FTE owned. The section of the expressway is most famous for providing the link for tourists between Orlando International Airport and Orlando area attractions such as SeaWorld and Universal Orlando, and Walt Disney World via I-4. The Beachline begins at an interchange with I-4, and heads east, with interchanges with the tourist-driven International Drive, Orangewood Boulevard, and John Young Parkway. The highway then jogs north to a massive combined interchange with Florida's Turnpike and US 17/US 92/US 441 at exit 4; this interchange serves The Florida Mall to the north of the road. The section of the Beachline Expressway from exit 0 to exit 4, with the exception of the express lanes, is a "free movement" section, requiring no tolls. The expressway continues east to the Beachline West barrier toll and then to SR 482 , ending FTE maintenance at the northwest edge of the airport.CFX maintenance begins at the northwest corner of the airport, with a free movement section between exits 8 and 9, followed by two airport-access interchanges with SR 436 and Goldenrod Road. The last of the Beachline's free movement sections is between SR 436 and with SR 15 just east of the airport. east of the airport, it intersects with the SR 417, heading out of Orlando, with the road straightening out as a beeline for the rest of its journey in Orange County. From the GreeneWay to I-95, the Beachline Expressway travels through mostly uninhabited marshlands. It intersects with a barrier toll just east of the GreeneWay, and has interchanges with Innovation Way and Dallas Boulevard, followed by one more barrier toll. East of the toll plaza, SR 528 reaches SR 520, the last interchange before the Orange–Brevard county line, ending CFX maintenance and tolls.
FDOT maintenance begins at the eastern end of the SR 520 interchange, and SR 528 crosses the St. Johns River into Brevard County at mile 35.775. Just east of the Brevard County line, the road veers southeast at the interchange with SR 407. It then enters the Space Coast development area before the interchange with I-95 at exit 205. It continues east, with interchanges with SR 501/SR 524 and US 1 before crossing over the Intracoastal Waterway on the Emory L. Bennett Causeway, followed by interchanges with SR 3 and Banana River Drive before ending at SR A1A and SR 401 near Port Canaveral.
Tolls
There are three mainline toll plazas on the tollway and each of them have at least two express lanes dedicated to SunPass for electronic toll collection, which do not require motorists to stop at a booth, as well as lanes dedicated to cash collection. While the Dallas Boulevard off ramp has a dedicated ETC lane along with an exact change lane, the other two ramp toll plazas only have a combined ETC/Exact Change lane, with no change provided.The Central Florida Expressway Authority, which operates part of the Beachline from McCoy Road, just east of the airport, to SR 520, accepts E-ZPass. FTE, which operates the Beachline from McCoy road west, also accepts E-ZPass.
Tolls on the east-pointing ramps at SR 520 are collected by FDOT, and 25 cents of the $1.25 CFX barrier toll east of the airport also goes to FDOT. There are no toll roads in Brevard County so technically the 25 cents is only for use of the FDOT road section in Orange County. Nonetheless, most road maps show the Brevard County section from the Orange County line to I-95 to be a toll road because it is impossible to travel over it without incurring a toll elsewhere. The Toll SR 528 shield is also used on this stretch of road as well as on exit signs along I-95.
The current toll rates took effect in July 2012.
Two managed lanes in each direction were opened in 2019 and 2020 for the eight miles between I-4 and McCoy Road near Orlando International Airport. They were originally built as Express Lanes with congestion-based tolling, but the additional tolls were never implemented, and they have now officially been converted to Thru Lanes. Although drivers will pay the same toll as for the general use lanes, a SunPass or compatible transponder is required to use the Thru Lanes. Eastbound drivers can enter from the general use lanes just east of I-4, and can exit shortly before Consulate Drive and Florida's Turnpike, or just before the airport. Westbound drivers can enter just west of the airport or the Turnpike, and exit only at I-4.
History
Pre-Bee Line
Orlando area
Prior to the construction of the Bee Line, State Road 528 was a surface road connecting Interstate 4 with the McCoy Jetport and SR 15. It ran along Sand Lake Road from I-4 east to Orange Blossom Trail, where it turned south to reach Landstreet Road. Landstreet Road took SR 528 to Orange Avenue at Taft, where SR 528 turned back north to McCoy Road. McCoy Road led east past the north entrance to the Jetport to SR 15; part of this is now SR 482, while part of McCoy Road from about east of SR 527 now serves as a frontage road to the Beachline Expressway.An interchange at SR 528 and Kirkman Road was built c. 1958 to serve the new Martin Marietta complex just to the south of that junction. At that time, the area at the west end of SR 528 was basically empty, and the land was a part of the extensive Martin-owned Orlando Central Park, covering roughly the area bounded by I-4 to the west/northwest, the Florida Turnpike to the northeast/east, and SR 482 to the south.
Bennett Causeway and Bee Line Expressway
The Emory L. Bennett Causeway and approaches, running from SR 520 west of Cocoa northeast on what is now SR 524 and east across US 1, the Indian River Lagoon, Merritt Island and the Banana River, was dedicated on October 11, 1963, as a two-lane toll bridge and road. It was assigned the SR 528 number over its whole length. At the same time, the present SR 401 north of SR 528 was also built. The causeway was named in honor of Emory L. Bennett, recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Korean War, and is part of the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway. SR 528 was initially opened in 1967 and named "The Bee Line Expressway," because it "beelined" east to Interstate 95. The Bee Line Expressway's southern fork was the mainline SR 528 and went to Interstate 95 and then Bennett Causeway to Cocoa Beach, while its northern fork, also designated SR 407, went northeast to I-95 and SR 405 at Titusville.Construction
SR 15 to SR 520
Martin Andersen, then owner of the Orlando Sentinel, helped form the Central Florida Development Commission to ensure that Orlando would prosper, with one of its goals being developing an "adequate road system". With the completion of Florida's Turnpike and I-4 in 1963 and 1965, Orlando had freeway connections to the northwest, southwest, southeast and northeast, but lacked such a connection to the Kennedy Space Center to the east.A bill creating the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority was signed into law in 1963, which, unlike the State Road Department, could raise money for new roads using tolls. Its immediate goal was to build a road to the Kennedy Space Center, but the law was written with the intent of a larger expressway network.
The OOCEA wanted to build a freeway all the way from I-4 to Cape Canaveral, but ran into several problems. It had issues with raising money for the road; traffic projections fell short of necessary to pay for the large bond issue required. It also did not have the authority to build in Brevard County, and many Brevard residents opposed the roads, as it would draw business away from the Cape Canaveral area to Orlando.
The setbacks resulted in a much shorter expressway route running from SR 15 east of the McCoy Jetport east to SR 520 in east Orange County. This was known as the Bithlo Cutoff, as it allowed traffic from southern Orlando to reach SR 520 without going north and east to Bithlo. West of SR 15, the existing SR 528 was to carry traffic to I-4. A new alignment would be built between Orange Blossom Trail and Orange Avenue, directly connecting Sand Lake Road to McCoy Road, and McCoy Road east from Daetwyler Drive to SR 15 would be widened as a divided surface road. Additionally, to handle traffic from downtown Orlando, SR 15 between Conway Road and Goldenrod Road would be rebuilt. Concurrently, the SRD was extending Lake Barton Road south to the Jetport, where it would meet the Bee Line, which opened in 1969.
In November 1964, the OOCEA and SRD signed an agreement where the OOCEA would build the road, and then turn it over to the SRD, which would operate and maintain it, giving toll revenue to the OOCEA. Construction of the $6.8 million project began in early 1966, with groundbreaking at the location of the present Dallas Boulevard interchange. The road was dedicated on July 14, 1967, at the toll plaza just east of SR 15, and the remaining section opened nine days later. The OOCEA board had voted to name it after Martin Andersen in December 1966, and in 1967 the Florida Legislature passed this designation into law.