Traffic alert: Brightline train construction closes several busy Central Florida roads this month

ORLANDO, Fla. – With service between Orlando and South Florida set to begin later this year, Brightline has announced a new list of construction-related road closures in Orange and Brevard counties.

The train, which will take passengers up Florida’s east coast to Orlando International Airport at speeds up to 125 mph, already operates from Miami to West Palm Beach.

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Many of the closures announced this week affect ramps and bridges along State Road 528 (Beachline), Interstate 95 and roads around Orlando International Airport.

Starting Wednesday, Jan. 5, at 10 p.m., eastbound SR-528 between I-95 and Industry Road in Cocoa will be closed until 5 a.m. Thursday to shift traffic onto the new alignment over the Brightline arch structure. Traffic going east will be detoured off the Beachline onto I-95 to SR-524, then to Clearlake Road to re-enter the Beachline eastbound toward Merritt Island.

Also on Wednesday night, the I-95 northbound ramp to eastbound SR-528 will be closed. Traffic will be forced to exit the highway early at SR-524 and continue to Industry Road where drivers can access eastbound SR-528.

According to the company’s most recent timeline, Brightline expects to finish the $2.7 billion Orlando extension by the end of this year and start carrying passengers between Orlando and West Palm Beach in early 2023.

Trains will take a little more than three hours to travel between Orlando and Miami, and tickets will cost $95 one-way.

The company hopes to eventually complete a 320-mile rail coast-to-coast network stretching from Miami to Orlando — with a station in Disney Springs — to Tampa Bay by 2028.