ORLANDO, Fla. — If you have driven recently through downtown Orlando, you may have noticed that the Interstate 4 interchange with State Road 408 is finally beginning to take shape.

"A number of years ago, you had partial ramps that were built right next to the OUC Building," reflected I-4 Ultimate's Dave Parks. "We're now going to build onto that ramp. That was kind of the ramp to nowhere; building onto that with the work that we're doing right now."

The interchange will eventually ditch the old bottleneck, almost trumpet design that was never designed to handle the amount of volume it sees on a daily basis. In its place will be a brand new interchange with a set of high flyovers that will link I-4 to State Road 408.

"The ramp that we are working on right now is actually the highest structure that we have built at that interchange," explained Parks. "We are over 120 feet above the ground which is almost as high as the Amway Center. So we are having the ramps kind of layered on top of each other like a cake."

To make sure the ramp is built that means more significant overnight closures of I-4.

Crews this week are closing the westbound side of I-4 during overnight hours on Wednesday, December 19, from Colonial Drive through State Road 408.

During the closure times,  all you need to do is exit at Colonial Drive. From there, head west to Orange Blossom Trail and head south to reconnect with the I-4 corridor.

That is not the only interchange in downtown Orlando that is getting a makeover.

"We are reconstructing the Michigan Street and Kaley Avenue interchanges to work together to provide access in all directions," said Parks. "Those interchanges are really close together so by combining them, we can still provide access for everyone to get where they need to go, but reduce some of the congestion."

This work requires crews to close the westbound lanes of I-4 Thursday during the early morning hours between midnight and 5 a.m., which will have all traffic forced off at Michigan Street (Exit 81).

Essentially, the alternate for this closure is to take Orange Blossom southbound until you reconnect with I-4.

To support the construction of that bridge, Michigan Street itself also closing underneath I-4 overnight and Thursday night between 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Despite the significant changes coming this week, Parks said that for the next week heading into the New Year, the construction will be slowed with no major closures expected.