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Officials: Stimulus Funds Would Go To I-4 Connector

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2009

TAMPA - Local officials are betting the best use of stimulus funding is to build a $463 million connector road between Interstate 4 and the Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

The Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization voted 11-0 this morning to divert millions of dollars in stimulus funding toward the project in the hope of spurring economic development at the Port of Tampa.

The long-range planning organization does not know exactly how much money it will receive from the stimulus package, which this morning still awaited final approval from President Barack Obama, but it estimates it could get $107 million based on Hillsborough County's population and other factors.

That money would be combined with stimulus funds allocated to the state's Department of Transportation to jumpstart the connector project.

Officials in Tallahassee are still tabulating how much federal funding will flow to the region. Altogether, the state expects to receive $1.3 billion in stimulus funds for highway and bridge projects.

The DOT's district office in Tampa says the connector project ranks as its top priority.

The connector initially was expected to break ground at the end of this year, but the project was delayed until 2013 because of a two-year decline in gas taxes, which are used in Florida to fund roads.

DOT officials say that if the district does not receive enough funding to pay for the $463 million connector project, it will use the money it does receive to carry it through to 2013, when state funds dedicated to the project will become accessible.

In addition to the port, the connector has implications for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, which operates the Selmon.

The authority was expecting that increased toll revenue from the connector could contribute toward the possible widening of the four-lane highway from 12th Street to Morgan Street in downtown Tampa.

Officials on the MPO board said motorists and businesses in Ybor City will benefit as well, if the connector is built because it would divert trucks destined for the port off of 22nd Street and State Road 60.

The biggest winner might be the port, itself – provided the connector project attracts stimulus funding.

"If the port is going to grow and develop it has to have the connector project," said Richard Wainio, the director of the Port of Tampa, who called the port the region's largest economic engine.

"We move 11,000 trucks in and out of the port every year. Even with moderate growth … we're looking at 15,000 to 18,000 trucks," he said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633.

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