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3 Hillsborough Projects To Hit The Road Early

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By RICH SHOPES

rshopes@tampatrib.com

Published: October 20, 2008

With Gov. Charlie Crist pushing ahead the work schedules of 179 road and bridge projects to jump-start Florida's economy, three road projects will start in Hillsborough County next year, including the 10-mile resurfacing of Interstate 4 from 50th Street to McIntosh Road.

The I-4 project, originally set to start this spring, now is scheduled to begin in January.

The other projects: the repaving of U.S. 301 from Gibsonton Drive to Bloomingdale Avenue, starting in April, and the ramp replacement east of the Howard Frankland Bridge on northbound I-275, set for September 2009.

That project will combine the existing airport ramp with the Kennedy Boulevard exit. The new exit will split off, creating separate ramps to the airport and Kennedy.

Flyover Is Flying

The Department of Transportation says its year-long flyover project at I-75 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard could be finished by December.

Officials say a second lane on the flyover bridge will open by late November. By the end of this month, a second left-turn lane from northbound Bruce B. Downs to northbound I-75 will open.

In two weeks, workers will open a new southbound I-75 ramp from northbound Bruce B. Downs. Currently, the Bruce B. Downs traffic merges with traffic from the flyover, creating one on-ramp. The new configuration will separate the two.
Road Closure In Riverview

Motorists in Riverview should avoid Balm-Riverview Road near Boyette Road this week. The road will be closed Oct. 22-Nov. 14 between Boyette and La Petite Way to allow workers to widen the intersection.

A right-turn-only lane will be added so southbound Balm-Riverview drivers can turn west onto Boyette. A second through-lane will be added for drivers in both directions.

Teen Safe-Driving Rally Set

About 100 students from Brandon, Sickles, Lennard, Bloomingdale and Freedom high schools are scheduled to attend a safe-driving rally at the Tampa Convention Center on Tuesday. The Allstate Foundation, a charitable group affiliated with Allstate Insurance, organized the event, one of 14 nationwide.

According to the foundation, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area had the highest rate for fatal crashes involving teenagers (41.5 crashes per year per 100,000 teens) out of the 100 largest metro cities in the United States from 2000-2006.

Too Much Of Good Thing?

Rick Scialdone of South Tampa recently asked about the decorative streetlights for the Gandy Boulevard project in South Tampa. "They are beautiful, but why so many? They seem to be 10 feet apart," he wrote.

The Department of Transportation says the spacing is 80-100 feet between Bridge Street and Dale Mabry Highway, narrower than the 210-230 feet for the conventional lights west of Bridge Street.

Got a traffic gripe? Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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