The battle over widening I-275 is happening again. Here’s what to know

Shirley Smith knew the pros and cons when she bought a house in Old Seminole Heights in 2017, less than a couple hundred feet from Interstate 275.

She got used to the hum of traffic at night, the occasional blaring music and truck horns. And she held out hope for a noise-reducing wall, completed this year, to eventually make her life easier.

But she learned last month that her slice of the highway might get wider, allowing more cars to pile on to the thoroughfare that cuts through Tampa’s urban core — a con she can’t accept.