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Process Just Starting On Gandy

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By JAMES T. HARGRETT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

As the chairman of the Board for the Tampa Hillsborough County Expressway Authority (THEA), I wish to clarify a few misconceptions about THEA's role in the Gandy corridor project.

There have been news reports that might lead the public to believe that THEA is ready to build an elevated highway through the Gandy corridor no matter what. That is incorrect.

In fact, the only thing the expressway board has done is authorize funds to begin the process of listening. THEA will:

1. Identify community contacts. THEA will talk to public leaders, neighborhood and business groups, local residents and business owners, and representatives from the city of Tampa, Hillsborough County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to help identify individuals who would be willing to work on a project advisory group. THEA wants this group to represent a wide range of community interests.

2. Listen to the community. THEA will ask the members of the project advisory group to help identify traffic and community issues of concern to residents and business owners within the Gandy area. The group will also provide an ongoing connection between the study team and those who live and work in this important part of the city.

3. Digest the information and present findings. While these group meetings are taking place, the THEA technical team will be evaluating the physical constraints and opportunities along with the traffic conditions within the Gandy corridor. In coordination with the city, the county and FDOT, THEA will take all the information gathered from the project advisory group and the field studies and then - and only then - identify possible solutions for review by the group. These solutions will include the benefits to the community, the cost to construct and operate a project, and the potential effects on the environment. It's the group's task to go through the solution(s), ask questions, make recommendations and express reservations.

4. Bring alternative solution(s) to the general public. Prior to identifying a preferred concept, THEA and the project advisory group will display the alternative solutions to the public to allow for additional input before developing a final preferred concept.

5. Public hearings. The preferred concept along with all of the environmental study results will be presented for formal comments at an open public hearing and then to the advisory group for any additional ideas or refinements. Finally, if the preferred concept has support from the greater community and it proves to be a feasible toll solution, it will be presented to the THEA Board of Directors for acceptance.
THEA does not have any preconceived ideas on how to solve the traffic issues in the Gandy corridor. That's up for the members of the Gandy and south Tampa community to decide. The only constraint THEA has is that the solution must be an economically feasible toll road. That said, if we go through this process and the best solution is not a toll road - it still may work as a project for another agency that could build the project (for example, the city of Tampa, Hillsborough County or FDOT).

Finally, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is holding a community meeting on July 29 at the Jan Platt Library. The Tampa Hillsborough County Expressway Authority's executive director, Joe Waggoner, will be in attendance at that meeting hoping to learn more about the concerns and questions of the community.

James Hargrett is a former state lawmaker and chairman of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.

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