"The state has gone bonkers for managed lanes," says Rory Santana, FDOT intelligent transportation systems manager in Miami. As evidence, he cited the I-95 system's recent milestone—its first month of more than 1 million vehicles. "That's a million vehicles in a month in two lanes," he says.

As with the I-4 Ultimate project, FDOT is leading the way with an approach that several other states are starting to adopt as well.

"There's been such a rapid increase in these types of projects," Santana says. "We've provided (industry with) a lot of new perspective."

Yet another avenue where FDOT is a pioneer is the field of autonomous cars. As one of only a handful of states to have legally authorized autonomous cars for its roads, Florida again stands to take a leadership position. FDOT recently announced that the newly completed Interstate 4/Lee Roy Selmon Connector facility in Tampa will serve as one of roughly a dozen official testing sites for the emerging technology. The new highway linking I-4 and the Port of Tampa features reversible lanes than can be closed.

Prasad, who went for a ride in a Google car a couple of years ago, argues that state DOTs need to be actively engaged with these developing technological innovations. "We want to be a part of what that new world's going to be," he says. "I want [FDOT] to be part of advancing the technology. We have to be open about it."

The interaction with private industry is another practice that Prasad sees as key to the agency's potential future successes. "A lot of private-sector partners and innovators feel empowered to come talk to us because they see an agency that's willing to try new things. That's what you want to be."