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TIA Roadwork On Schedule, Officials Say

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By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2007

TAMPA - Construction on two highway projects at Tampa International Airport remains on schedule, and the new airport interchange could even be finished early, airport and state highway officials said Thursday.

Completion of the state's $205 million airport interchange project is scheduled for May 2010, said John McShaffrey, public information officer for interstate construction for the Florida Department of Transportation. However, incentive plans created for the contractor could mean the massive bridge and highway work on the southern boundary of the airport will be done by the fall of 2009, he said.

The project includes a complete rebuilding of State Road 60 between Interstate 275 and the Veterans Expressway, including the area just west of the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and the Spruce Street area west of West Shore Boulevard. It does not involve the I-275 interchange for S.R. 60 and the airport.

The airport's $35.1 million project to improve merging traffic patterns and widen the George Bean Parkway that leads to the main terminal is scheduled to be completed by October 2008.

Travelers leaving Tampa International will be routed onto some of the new roadways in December, including one leading to I-275.

DOT's airport interchange project will improve traffic flow somewhat at the I-275 and S.R. 60 interchange, but more work will be required to improve traffic there, McShaffrey said.

That issue has caught the attention of the Westshore Alliance, a group representing the West Shore business district.

The interchange is likely to become more congested and more of a bottleneck even as the two airport projects move toward completion, said Chris Weber, the alliance's director of transportation.

In addition, it is likely that the interchange would have to be modified to accommodate rail transit if the plans for the area's first rail network move forward, Weber said.

DOT has considered the interchange in its master plans, McShaffrey said.

'The airport interchange project is not the end-all project for that area,' he said. 'Highway projects must be built in pieces because of funding. Plus you can't build everything at one time as that would require shutting down all roadways or lanes around I-275 and S.R. 60, and obviously that would create a traffic nightmare.'

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

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