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Road Officials And Residents Can Bridge Gandy Differences

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 26, 2008

For years officials in Pinellas County pushed the Florida Department of Transportation to extend the Gandy Bridge, a major span crossing Tampa Bay, to the Crosstown Expressway. This, they said, was needed to improve traffic flow during hurricane evacuation.

But Tampa residents living near Gandy Boulevard feared the project would destroy their community. They were especially alarmed by a proposed route through residential neighborhoods. The Tampa City County understandably sided with them, voting to refuse support for any road connector.

Today at least some neighborhood leaders on the Hillsborough side seem to be having a change of heart. Recent hurricanes have given new immediacy to the importance of evacuation.

State and city officials have requested that the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority (THEA) study whether an extension from the Gandy Bridge to the Crosstown Expressway should be built. Some residents now support a corridor.

There is no question that connecting Gandy and the expressway would improve traffic and speed up evacuation. The discussions could lead to a proposal that will be acceptable to traffic planners and residents alike.

But it would be premature to make the final decision on what Gandy needs. Even now construction is under way along the road. Former state Sen. Jim Sebesta, who attended many heated community meetings during his years in office, helped obtain funding for a plan to improve traffic flow that did not displace any homes or businesses. It will synchronize traffic lights, add right-turn lanes and install concrete medians. Work is scheduled to be finished next year.

City and state officials think more will be needed, and they're probably right. There is nothing wrong with starting discussions. But it would seem prudent to at least see how Sebesta's fixes work before committing to a more ambitious solution.

The two plans most mentioned are an elevated connector that would go down the middle of Gandy Boulevard or one that would go south from the bridge, parallel the CSX tracks and connect to the Crosstown at Dale Mabry Highway.

Cost will certainly be a factor, but equally important will be the approval of residents. Expressway authority officials stress they will not shove a connector plan down the community's throat if it doesn't want it.

"We're not going to say, 'You come up with a solution that suits us.' We're going to say, 'You come up with a solution that you think we can come to a general agreement on,' " said THEA executive director Joseph Waggoner.

Residents near Gandy need to recognize they live in mandatory evacuation zones, and they, as well as Pinellas residents, need a reliable way to get to safety. Thousands had to flee when Hurricane Charley threatened Tampa Bay in 2004. A connector off of the Gandy Bridge would have made the evacuation less of an ordeal.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is holding a public meeting of city, state and expressway officials on July 29 to discuss traffic issues in south Tampa from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jan K. Platt Regional Library, 3910 S. Manhattan Ave. It will be just the first of many such meetings.

The Gandy Bridge has gone through many changes since it opened in 1924, and another improvement may be due. But there is no reason to rush the process, especially since the latest effort to address Gandy's traffic hasn't even been completed.

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