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Drivers skeptical as Florida construction projects look to alleviate congestion
By Lydia Vazquez,
13 days ago
If you've driven anywhere in the Tampa Bay area during rush hour, you know that rushing anywhere during that time will only leave you sitting on the road for an hour.
"Here in St. Pete, I-275, we never had backups before. Now, we're bottle-necking in the middle of the day!" Pinellas County resident Vicki Parker explained
Construction projects are underway on both sides of the bay to try to alleviate congestion on our expressways and bridges.
"If you look at where we are today, we're probably about 20% over today where we were projecting ourselves this year pre-pandemic," Gregory Slater, CEO and Executive Director of Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority, said.
The study is investigating the creation of additional lanes on the Selmon Expressway from the I-4 connector to US 301 in Hillsborough County. This would add capacity to break up the bottlenecks near Falkenburg Road and downtown Tampa and reduce congestion in the Brandon area.
"You're going to start to see greater accessibility from this system out in Brandon. So we're starting to see more and more balanced traffic between the reversible express lane up top and the local lanes underneath," Slater said.
If you've been on I-275 lately, you've probably noticed the construction, as the Gateway Expressway project is now underway.
FDOT FDOT's Gateway Express project
"I-275 is crazy at like 5 p.m., 7 a.m., it's just crazy all the time," driver Isabella Furlong explained.
The project will create two new 4-lane elevated tolled roadways. Part of the project will widen I-275 to create toll lanes, one in each direction, from south of Gandy Blvd to 4th Street North.
Action Air One flew over the Howard Frankland Bridge , where a new southbound/westbound interstate bridge is being built. It will have eight lanes: four express lanes, two lanes from St. Pete toward Tampa, and two lanes from Tampa toward St Pete.
The existing bridge will be converted to the new northbound/eastbound I-275. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2025.
"I think that the more we build, the more they'll come. So yeah, it'll expand, and it'll help, but as more people keep coming, pretty soon, that's not going to be enough!" Parker said.
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