Hillsborough County Transportation Planning Organization gave the green light to a $500 million project. The plan will add express lanes on I-4 spanning 17 miles from I-75 to County Line Road. Board members voted 9-2 on Dec. 10.

Tampa City Council members Lynn Hurtak and Bill Carlson cast the dissenting votes. They want mass transit instead of more traffic lanes.

The Citizens Advisory Council fought against it, voting 9-4 to reject the proposal. Rick Fernandez sounded the alarm about what happens when you build more lanes.

“If you add capacity to a roadway, what’s going to happen is that people are going to use it more, and eventually therefore, the roadway will become congested again,” said Fernandez, according to FOX 13. His fear is that expanding I-4 will crush Tampa’s I-275 and I-4 interchange with too much traffic.

“Unless we get people out of cars and into alternative transportation, the congestion problem on our roads will just continue to get worse,” he added.

Dr. Neil Manimola made his case at the TPO meeting. He thinks the money should go somewhere else — like light rail. “‘Widening roads to cure congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity,'” said Manimola, according to Tampa Bay 28. “The desire to give people relief on I-4 is real, but this proposal does not change the diagnosis.”

Governor Ron DeSantis sped up the timeline by ten years through his Moving Florida Forward initiative. Construction was set to start in 2038, but the governor changed that at an event in Bartow back in October.

“The lanes will make a difference, a reliable traffic flow, and will give people a better option to get from Tampa to Central Florida and vice versa,” said DeSantis, per FOX 13.

Construction starts in 2028. One eastbound lane and one westbound lane will be added across the 17-mile stretch.

Drivers can enter and exit at multiple points: the interchange with I-75, Branch Forbes Road, Thonotosassa Road, and the Polk Parkway. Tolls will use dynamic pricing, so prices shift with traffic conditions. SunPass and E-PASS handle payment.

The Florida Department of Transportation will leave a 44-foot gap for possible rail in the future, but there’s a problem. Some stretches in Plant City don’t have that space, making it tougher to add a rail line later on.