ORLANDO, Fla. — Charles Jackson has lived in Orlando for the past 30 years and says he's seen it all.

"There's all kinds of changes. It can be one way today and modified that night. Then the next morning, you go through there, (and) there is something different," Jackson said.

Jackson could be talking about any construction project across Central Florida, but in this instance, he's referring to road work at the State Road 408 and State Road 417 interchange.

"It's a deep concern of mine. You really have to be careful when you go through there," he said.

Thankfully for Jackson, the end is in sight. Spectrum News 13 was given a tour of the interchange this week and were told that the project's second, and final, phase has about five months to go before completion. 

"We're gonna have two new ramps, and we're gonna have two realigned ramps," said Shari Croteau, a spokesperson for the Central Florida Expressway Authority.

"The new ramps and realigned ramps are going to help improve traffic flow and help to ease the congestion that we see especially at peak travel times."

The tour took us to a ramp that will eventually be the S.R. 417 northbound ramp to S.R. 408 westbound. That ramp is supposed to open before Thanksgiving, but officials told us to expect lots of overnight closures from now until the end of the project.

What makes this interchange so special? It is actually the second busiest interchange in Central Florida. More than 140,000 vehicles per day use this interchange.

The $90.7 million project started in January 2016. The work on the interchange was divided into two phases:

Phase 1 involved the widening of S.R. 417 between Berry Dease Road and S.R. 408.

The 1.6-mile project added a travel lane in both directions (from three to six lanes) and realigned the northbound S.R. 417 ramp to eastbound S.R. 408. Three sound walls also were built.

This phase is already complete.

During Phase 2, crews are building and realigning ramps from westbound S.R. 408 to southbound S.R. 417, northbound S.R. 417 to westbound S.R. 408, and eastbound S.R. 408 to southbound S.R. 417.

This phase will be completed in the next five months.

What's next?

CFX officials said that in early August, an old ramp that flies over S.R. 408 will be demolished. The work will take about a month, and during that time, drivers should expect several more overnight closures to accommodate the work.

As for Jackson, he has advice for those wishing to navigate all the coming changes, especially the overnight closures.

"In general, I just think that people need to slow down a little bit, expect the unexpected, and arrive alive," he said.

You can stay up to date on road closures and traffic conditions in Central Florida here.