DOT Plans To Wrap 4 Of 5 Major Projects By Year's End

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - It's a new year, but the commute is the same and the traffic is not much better.

The Florida Department of Transportation has set some big goals for this year, four of their five major construction projects will be finished before 2019

Commuters, like Mike Fernandez, are fed up with the wait.

"I hate the traffic, the construction has a lot to do with it and it seems like when they are done they start all over again," said Fernandez, "It's been years."

The four construction projects slated to be done this year includes the Palmetto Express Project which will add new express lanes from the Dolphin Expressway to I-595.

Another project to be wrapped are improvements to SW 107th Avenue to ease congestion and make it safer for pedestrians near FIU.

Also on the "Git-R-Done" list is the West Flagler Street project which involves the replacing the stormwater drainage system and the construction in Downtown Miami on SE 2nd Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard which also includes a new storm drainage system.

Fernandez does hope construction on one particular interstate will be finished sooner rather than later.

"I-95, I try to avoid it. I feel like it's more dangerous than any other road and the construction doesn't help," he said.

Unfortunately, I-95 construction completion has been delayed until 2020. Special events and bad weather conditions including Hurricane Irma impacted the finish date.

All of these construction projects come with a big price tag, an estimated at $369.43 million.

The Palmetto Expressway project is responsible for a majority of that total, a whopping $244 million. But it's a lot of roadway, 28 miles from Miami-Dade to Broward County. Fingers crossed that when the project is finished, the "Crawlmetto" will be a thing of the past.