Travel News Weekly By Turnpikes.com For August 17, 2026

Editor’s note: We are including our raw script this week, copied directly from the text file.

Greetings and welcome to another installment of Travel News Weekly by Turnpikes.com for August 17, 2024 … covering Florida and North American toll roads.

We start with our travel alerts this week … Florida’s Turnpike is closing in Palm Beach County overnights again this week, as construction on a turnpike-widening project continues. That project is happening in segments across the entirety of the turnpike.

For West Palm Beach, the road closes between Jog Road and Okeechobee Boulevard, all week, alternating between northbound and southbound lanes.

Northbound Florida’s Turnpike closes Monday and Wednesday nights, while southbound will close Tuesday and Thursday nights. Again - this happens between Okeechobee Boulevard and Jog Road - that puts the closure between mile markers 98 and about 101.

The closures happen between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

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In Miami-Dade County, specifically in the Homestead area, you’ll find Florida’s Turnpike closed overnights Wednesday and Thursday this week northbound between SW 288th Street and 112th Avenue, which is exits 5 to 9-A … those closures happen between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. - again on Wednesday and Thursday nights this week for Miami-Dade.

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Shifting to gas prices, the cost of fuel pushed slightly higher for most of us in the past week, with chaos and uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing U.S. military clash with Iran.

As of Monday morning, the American Automobile Association was reporting the national average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded had dipped during the overnight hours to about 4-dollars and six cents, but that figure is up from last week, when prices were hovering right around the 4-dollar per gallon threshold.

In Florida, the statewide average is below that 4-dollar per gallon figure, but by no means does that hold true on a county-by-county basis in the Sunshine State.

Monroe County - home to Key West - and Palm Beach County are both still seeing prices hover above the 4-dollar per gallon mark, while folks in Pensacola, in Escambia County on the border with Alabama, are enjoying Florida’s lowest prices per gallon of fuel.

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The cost of diesel is not moving at the same pace as regular gas, according to the latest figures from Triple-A Monday … they show the average cost of a gallon of diesel went up significantly in the U.S. last week, and unlike gasoline, prices did not trickle downward overnight Sunday to Monday morning.

Currently, the Triple-A reports a gallon of diesel is running just under 5-45 per gallon, which is about where it was Sunday, but is nearly 15 cents higher than at this time last week.

Putting that into perspective, a diesel rig with a 200-gallon fuel capacity, will cost an extra 30 dollars to fill this week versus last - and if you have twin 150s, that’s a 300-gallon fuel supply, the added cost is 45 dollars … per fill up …

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Shifting gears back to construction - no pun intended - We look at plans for future construction, specifically across the booming Central Florida region and in Polk County, where the Florida Department of Transportation is ready to hold a trio of meetings to discuss additional plans for new toll roads in the Lakeland area, which will connect with Orlando metro to the north and run south of Lake Hamilton to near Waverly, Florida …

A series of public hearings is on tap next week in Haines City on Tuesday in Davenport on Thursday, with a virtual public hearing set for Monday at 6 p.m. online.

The in-person meetings in Haines City and Davenport do not require registration, but the virtual presentation for Monday evening does require registration, which you can do by following the QR code here or visiting the registration site.

The overarching plans call for a series of extensions to the Polk Parkway, which would sit to the east of the Parkway in Lakeland, and connect the south end of metro Orlando to both Haines City and Davenport, with the various additional segments connecting to just a few miles north of Lake Wales, at U.S. 27 near Waverly.

You can check our social media pages for a complete list of those meeting times and locations, as well as to find links to register for the public hearing online, if you can not attend in person.

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As we head out of Florida, we head to Kansas where the Chief Executive Officer of the Kansas Turnpike posted pictures in the past week of the demolitions happening at the Emporia Service Area of the Kansas Turnpike. You’ll recall we told you the plaza services were shutting down for a rebuild of that plaza, although you can still stop for gas and to use a bathroom.

KTA’s Steve Hewitt posted pictures of the demolition that got underway in earnest as authorities prepare to construct a slick new travel center that will be operated by Fast N’ Friendly.

Updated renderings of the new plaza were unveiled the last week of July, and if all goes well, that new plaza will be opening in the Fall of 2027.

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Between now and then, Kansas will be raising tolls as part of its long-term investment and upgrade plans … in fact, there will three years worth of toll increases coming down the ‘pike, as it were, starting September 1, and continuing each year through 2028, although revisions could still be in the offing.

The first increases will be a 3-percent toll hike on passenger cars and smaller trucks, anything with four axles or less - and a four-percent increase on rigs and haulers - that’s anything with five axles or more.

Specific tolls have not been unveiled just yet, but those are expected to be released any day, with that first toll increase in Kansas coming on September 1.

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Finally this week, we travel back to the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the newest crossing between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario where officials there say more than 40-thousand people traversed the bridge in just the first five days of operation at the beginning of the month.

The bridge opened this summer following a series of politically-motivated delays that prevented the bridge from opening earlier in the year.

What new politics could impact the bridge? According to at least one Canadian media outlet, duplicate charges … while CBC News Canada did not have a specific figure, the news agency quoted a spokesman for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority who stated the agency is aware of the double charges reported by some travelers. CBC spoke with at least one driver, who noted the duplicate charges appeared for the trip from the U.S. into Canada.

In the meantime, drivers using the Gordie Howe bridge are encouraged to double-check their credit or debit card statements to make sure they were not double-billed.

We will bring you an update of this story as it becomes available.

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That will wrap up our journey for the moment; we thank you for watching and listening, once again, and remind you to avoid distracted driving.

I’m Danny Pryor reporting for Turnpikes.com: The Turnpike Authority!