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Delay Likely For Project Linking I-4, Expressway

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By RICH SHOPES

rshopes@tampatrib.com

Published: January 29, 2009

TAMPA - The project connecting Interstate 4 to the Selmon Crosstown Expressway is running out of gas.

Work on the $460 million project was to start early next year, but it is being pushed back three years because of a shortfall in transportation funding. State transportation officials in Tampa say they are trying to get federal stimulus funding to put the project back on track.

"It's the district's No. 1 priority," said Kris Carson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation's Tampa Bay area office.

The funding shortfall was triggered by a two-year decline in gas tax collections.

The project has implications for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, which operates the crosstown.

The authority says the road will need to be widened where it winds through downtown, from 12th Street to Morgan Street, after the connector opens. The authority hopes to get stimulus funding to pay for the work.

The agency has an $83 million maintenance plan on deck for early next year, but that's only to replace the concrete surface on that stretch of highway.

The 15-mile toll road handles 92,000 transactions daily.

If the widening doesn't get funding, the authority's executive director, Joe Waggoner, hopes at least the connector road gets money.

The mile-long connector, which is expected to take four years to complete, has been discussed by officials for more than 10 years as a way to reduce I-4 traffic and divert truck traffic bound for Port Tampa off Ybor City streets.

Kevin Thibault, assistant secretary for engineering and operations at the DOT, said the connector meets federal criteria for stimulus funding. It can be bid out to contractors within 90 to 120 days and has all the necessary environmental permits.

However, dozens of other projects meet the criteria and await funding, too. Altogether, the state has almost $7 billion in highway projects angling for an estimated $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in stimulus money. That means many projects won't get funded and others will get partial funding.

Given that scenario, transportation officials could stretch out projects over several years.

"Having said that, we're asking our teams, our districts, to get creative," Thibault said. "If it's a $100 million project, maybe $50 million gets you started."

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

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