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North Tampa East-West Road Dead In Its Tracks

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 13, 2008

TAMPA -- A plan to build a 3-mile road to ease traffic in North Tampa is dead.

The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, in consultation with the city of Tampa, killed the project Thursday, citing concerns about high toll rates, among other issues.

Neither city nor expressway authority officials have a back-up plan.

"This process is not going forward," said Steve Daignault, the city's administrator for public works and utility services. "We're right back to where we were."

Local government and transportation officials have discussed building an east-west road since the 1980s. The most recent incarnation called for a 3-mile toll road that would have connected New Tampa Boulevard and Interstate 275.

The toll road would have been the first public-private road built in the state.

The project was expected to cost about $155 million. Plenary Group, with offices in Canada and Australia, was chosen to build the road and operate it for 40 years. Tolls would have gone back to the company to help cover the project's cost.

Last year, the Federal Highway Administration asked for a new $500,000 study of the road's impact, but city officials said they didn't have the money to pay for it. Neither did the expressway authority.

Plenary was asked to cover the cost. In a memo to the expressway authority in April, Plenary said the company might be willing to cover the cost but wanted to make some changes to the project, including widening New Tampa Boulevard and adding turn lanes.

That essentially changed the project, said Joseph Waggoner, executive director of the expressway authority.

Another concern was that Plenary wanted to set the toll rate at $1.25 each way. Tolls would have risen to $2.75 in five years, or $5.50 round trip. Increases would have been indexed to inflation thereafter.
The high toll for a 3-mile road kept the plan from getting enough support from motorists or the authority.

"The transportation needs in the North Tampa area are very real," Waggoner said. "Doing this as a toll road is probably not going to be the way to get it done."

Phil Dreaver, a director at the Plenary Group, said he is disappointed the project won't move forward. He said his group spent two years on the plans.

"We've been working hard to try to get a deal done, but it seems to have fallen at one of the hurdles," Dreaver said. "The fact was this wasn't a cheap road to build. We've spent a half-million to a million on this, and we'll get nothing out of it."

At a transportation summit in New Tampa last month, Mayor Pam Iorio indicated the project's days were numbered, citing financial issues.

City Councilman Tom Scott, who serves on the expressway authority board, said he knew the project was doomed because the tolls would have been too high.

"It was too steep," Scott said. "You're going to pay five bucks to get out of New Tampa and back into traffic?"

Councilman Joseph Caetano, who represents North Tampa, said he had mixed feelings about the project, as did his constituents.

"I know some people want it and some people don't want it," Caetano said. "I know it's needed to alleviate our problems up here. It's a nightmare. I don't know what's going to happen."

From the beginning, residents in West Meadows opposed the route, which would have directed the toll road traffic through their neighborhood.

"I can officially say I'm delighted that the East-West road is dead," said Marshall Adams, who founded Citizens For West Meadows. "It was a colossal blunder and waste of money to build that road."

But Frank Margarella, chairman of the New North Transportation Alliance, said he was sorry to see the road die.

He blamed part of the problem on the plan's demise on Iorio's decision to link the New Tampa Boulevard Bridge to the toll road.

"It's a double whammy,'' Margarella said. "The bridge project was fully funded and ready to go," he said. "It's like they threw the baby out with the bathwater."

Daignault said the city has no immediate plans to move forward with the bridge, but it will be re-evaluated on an annual basis.

Reporter Laura Kinsler contributed to this story. Information from Tribune archives also was used. Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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