TAMPA, Fla. — For Sheryl Freed and her dog Tucker, Seminole Heights is not only a great place for afternoon walks. It's also great for morning commutes.
“Really, that’s one of the reasons we live here and I live here — because I work downtown — so that I can quickly access the interstate and get to where I need to go,” she said.
But right now, that easy access isn’t so easy, as the City of Tampa upgrades underground stormwater infrastructure across the neighborhood in an ambitious endeavor known as the Southeast Seminole Heights Flooding Relief Project.
Some of that work is happening at the intersection of East Hanna and North Central Avenues, close to Freed’s home. Right now, the intersection is blocked on all four sides.
“It is difficult getting in and out of the neighborhood, for sure,” Freed said.
She and others are also worried about what that closure will mean for Seminole Heights Elementary School, located beside the torn-up intersection.
Contractors closed the intersection after the last school year ended. They promised to finish the work before the next school year begins. However, with school set to begin on Aug. 10, the work is still ongoing.
After previous delays and missed deadlines on other portions of the project, neighbors like Freed worry the work on the intersection won’t be done in time and that school traffic will be adversely impacted.
The project’s contractor, Nelson Construction, gave an update on the work during a Tampa City Council meeting last Thursday.
“We’ve encountered multiple, unforeseen conditions in the intersection and along the roadway itself that have caused multiple setbacks for us,” said the project manager, Nelson Construction’s Will Stock.
However, despite the setbacks, Stock said the road will be partially paved before the school's open house on Aug. 8 to give parents access to the school’s drop-off and pick-up entrance on Hanna Ave.
Francine Lazarus, the principal of Seminole Heights Elementary, said she was told the paving work should begin Tuesday, Aug. 1.
While the portion of Hanna Avenue in front of the school will be repaved, other portions of both Hanna and Central Avenues will remain closed to through traffic. As a result, Lazarus says parents accessing the school’s drop-off/pick-up loop for the next few months will need to travel a certain route to access to drop-off loop.
Since Central Avenue south of the intersection will remain closed, and because a portion of Hanna will be closed near I-275, parents will need to access the school by either traveling east on Hanna or south on Central before turning left on Hanna.
As for Freed, she hopes the portion of Hanna adjacent to the school’s drop-off loop will be repaved before the first day of school, but she has doubts because of previous delays and setbacks with the project.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said.
