Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) is a business unit of the Florida Department of Transportation

Florida Department of Transportation

The Florida Department of Transportation is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of the Florida State Road Department...

 (FDOT), employing private sector business practices to operate its 460-mile system of limited-access toll highways for the benefit of Florida's traveling public. The interim Executive Director is Gerry OReilly, who also serves at the Florida Department of Transportation in District 4 Ft. Lauderdale.

History

Operation of toll roads in Florida began with Florida State Turnpike Authority in 1957. Following the creation of the FDOT on July 1, 1969, the authority was split into two separate entities. The Office Of Toll Operations and the Office of Florida's Turnpike were put in place under the new FDOT. In later years, the two merged into a non-regional FDOT district. On April 11, 2002, Governor Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...

 signed a bill changing FDOT's Florida's Turnpike District into the current Florida's Turnpike Enterprise.

System description

In addition to the Turnpike mainline, the Turnpike Enterprise owns Polk Parkway (SR 570), Suncoast Parkway (SR 589), Veterans Expressway (SR 589), Sawgrass Expressway

Sawgrass Expressway

State Road 869 is a long state road located in Broward County, Florida. The road acts as a de-facto bypass of Fort Lauderdale and northern coastal Broward County, Florida, extending north from a junction of Interstate 75 , Interstate 595 , and SR 84 in Sunrise, to Coral Springs before heading...

 (SR 869), the Seminole Expressway portion of (SR 417), the southern six miles (10 km) of Southern Connector Extension

State Road 417 (Florida)

State Road 417 , also known as the Central Florida GreeneWay, Southern Connector and Seminole Expressway , is a tolled freeway forming the eastern beltway around the city of Orlando, Florida, United States. It is owned and maintained by the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and Florida's...

 (SR 417), the southern 11 miles (17.7 km) of Daniel Webster Western Beltway

State Road 429 (Florida)

State Road 429 , also known as the Daniel Webster Western Beltway or Western Expressway, is a limited-access toll road built and maintained by the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise. It currently extends from Interstate 4 near Walt Disney World north to...

 (SR 429) and the western eight miles (13 km) of Beachline West Expressway

State Road 528 (Florida)

State Road 528 , the Martin Andersen Beachline Expressway , is a long state highway in the U.S. state of Florida. It is a mostly-tolled expressway connecting Interstate 4 in southwest Orlando with Cape Canaveral...

 (SR 528).

The Enterprise collects tolls on the portion of Interstate 75

Interstate 75 in Florida

Interstate 75 is a part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Hialeah, Florida, a few miles northwest of Miami to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...

 known as Alligator Alley

Alligator Alley

Alligator Alley is a section of Interstate 75 and State Road 84 extending from Naples on the west coast of Florida to Weston on the east...

, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge is a bridge spanning Tampa Bay, Florida, with a cable-stayed main span, and a total length of 21,877 feet . It is part of I-275 and US 19 , connecting St. Petersburg in Pinellas County and Terra Ceia in Manatee County, Florida, passing through Hillsborough...

, the Pinellas Bayway

Pinellas Bayway

The Pinellas Bayway System is a series of bridges on two Florida State Roads in Pinellas County, Florida. It is a toll road complex maintained and operated by the Florida Department of Transportation. It also is compatible with the SunPass ETC system currently in used on all other FDOT-owned toll...

 System and the Beachline East (State Road 528) — all FDOT-owned roads and bridges. It also provides toll collection services for the Garcon Point

Garcon point bridge

The Garcon Point Bridge is a 2-lane toll bridge in Santa Rosa County, in the Florida panhandle. The bridge generally runs north - south and connects U.S. Route 98 east of Gulf Breeze, Florida to Interstate 10 and U.S. Route 90 west of Milton, Florida. The road and bridge uses the TOLL 281 shield on...

 and Mid-Bay Bridges in Florida's Panhandle.