Ellis Road I-95 interchange in West Melbourne may open as soon as Tuesday, barring delays

Rick Neale
Florida Today
Work on the Interstate 95 interchange at Ellis Road is nearly complete, viewed looking west from John Rhodes Boulevard.

The new Interstate 95 interchange at Ellis Road in West Melbourne could open to traffic as early as Tuesday, barring rainy weather or inspection-related delays.

Officials hope to conduct a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but the event will be smaller than usual because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Georganna Gillette, executive director of the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization.

In tandem, Brevard County officials will open the new northern segment of the St. Johns Heritage Parkway, which extends 1 mile from U.S. 192 to the new interchange.

"Crews are currently finishing up punch list items for this project," said Jessica Ottaviano, a Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

"FDOT anticipates opening the interchange to traffic by the end of the month, pending weather and other unexpected events," Ottaviano said.

Gillette said the $39 million Ellis Road interchange will serve three key functions:

The interchange will relieve traffic on nearby Eau Gallie Boulevard (to the north) and U.S. 192 (to the south). 

"Both of those are heavily congested state roads with, really, a limited opportunity for resolution," Gillette said, referring to road widening and other costly upgrades.

The interchange will provide I-95 travelers a direct route to Orlando Melbourne International Airport.

"This is extremely important. It's going to benefit not only the commuters, but the high-tech industry in that area," Gillette said.

"An employment center and an airport of that magnitude needs to have a better circulation system to compete in the global marketplace," she said.

The interchange will connect with Brevard County's newly constructed $11 million St. Johns Heritage Parkway extension.

"It creates a major regional north-south travel route. You get redundancy in the system, other than just I-95," Gillette said.

"So that's going to alleviate congestion on existing roads, from Malabar to Ellis," she said.

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The first segment of the St. Johns Heritage Parkway (2.5 miles) opened in 2015 in Palm Bay, extending between Malabar Road and Emerson Drive. The second segment (3.1 miles) opened in 2017 between Emerson Boulevard and U.S. 192 in West Melbourne.

Airport officials lobbied for the I-95 Ellis Road connection as far back as the mid-1990s. The Federal Highway Administration declared the project eligible for federal funding in 2009.

Work on the Interstate 95 interchange at Ellis Road will open soon, as viewed heading south on I-95.

In a key step from 2009 to 2011, crews realigned NASA Boulevard to line up with the future I-95 interchange. This $5.5 million project rerouted NASA Boulevard about one-eighth of a mile north, so it connected with Ellis Road at Wickham Road.

Land-clearing work on the Ellis Road interchange project began in October 2018.

Next, transportation officials plan to widen Ellis Road from two to four lanes between John Rodes Boulevard and Wickham Road. The cost likely will exceed $50 million, Gillette said.

Engineering design work on the Ellis Road widening project should wrap up by year's end, Gillette said. FDOT has earmarked right-of-way acquisition funding over a five-year stretch — but construction funding remains unbudgeted, she said.

Ellis Road will become West Melbourne's third I-95 interchange, joining U.S. 192 and Palm Bay Road.

Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1. To subscribe: https://cm.floridatoday.com/specialoffer/