FDOT said the design will increase capacity and reduce the crisscross merging that contributes to backups and crashes.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Drivers frustrated by congestion near Tampa International Airport got a closer look Wednesday at what\u2019s ahead for the Westshore Interchange, as the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) wrapped up a public open house on the massive reconstruction project.<\/p>\n
The meeting marked the start of the next major phase of work at the interchange of I-275 and State Road 60, one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n
For many commuters, the current traffic pattern is already a daily challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrustrating,\u201d one driver said of the interchange. Another added that it\u2019s worse coming from downtown or along I-275.<\/p>\n
Commuter Junior Garcia didn\u2019t mince words.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now? I\u2019d say it\u2019s a cluster. It\u2019s a super cluster,\u201d Garcia said, describing chaotic lane changes, near misses and confusion \u2014 especially at night or in the rain.<\/p>\n
The Florida Department of Transportation says a long-planned rebuild is now moving forward.<\/p>\n
FDOT hosted two open houses Wednesday \u2014 one online earlier in the day and an in-person event in the Westshore area \u2014 to walk residents through the scope, cost and timeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis first part is $643 million. So it\u2019s big,\u201d said Zachary Stringer, an FDOT construction manager. \u201cIt has some of the most important movements of the overall program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The overall Westshore Interchange project is expected to cost about $1 billion and will fully reconstruct the interchange with new flyover ramps, wider lanes and improved access to the airport.<\/p>\n
FDOT says the design will increase capacity and reduce the crisscross merging that contributes to backups and crashes.<\/p>\n
Stringer said the project is focused on safety and mobility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a safety and mobility project \u2014 keeping traffic moving and reducing congestion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The current phase, known as Priority 1A, includes major flyover bridges, new ramps and express lanes. Construction begins this week and includes overnight ramp closures and detours expected to last for months. FDOT says work will continue through the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis phase will take us up through 2030,\u201d Stringer said.<\/p>\n
FDOT officials stressed that traffic will continue moving during construction whenever possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re building this while we\u2019re keeping all directions of traffic open and only closing movements when it\u2019s absolutely necessary,\u201d Stringer said.<\/p>\n
Beyond interstate traffic, the project also includes new overpasses and connections aimed at improving local circulation and linking surrounding neighborhoods, moving short trips off the interstate.<\/p>\n
For commuters like Demonta Brown, the open house was an opportunity to see how the changes could affect daily routines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to come out here and see the faces they\u2019re going to work through and how that\u2019s going to impact the community,\u201d Brown said. \u201cMy route, getting to work sometimes \u2014 because I\u2019m right off Westshore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others said the long-term payoff could be worth the disruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as they get that done, it\u2019ll be awesome,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI think it\u2019ll alleviate a lot more traffic in that area, and it would be a lot safer for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
FDOT says information from the open house \u2014 including project updates and traffic alerts \u2014 will remain available online as construction continues, and commuters can sign-up for traffic alerts as well as find out when future open houses are being held.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FDOT said the design will increase capacity and reduce the crisscross merging that contributes to backups and crashes.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-178692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}