HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation’s Downtown Tampa I-275, I-4 interchange project is a main focus for the agency.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of congestion from southbound I-275 to eastbound I-4,” said Kris Carson, FDOT Spokesperson.
That’s a big reason behind reconstructing the interchange.
Another one is safety.
FDOT told ABC Action News there are about 1,000 crashes along the downtown interchange per year. This project should reduce serious and fatal crashes by half.
"This project is a safety operation improvement project, so we are going to improve that area. We know there’s a lot of congestion and, unfortunately, a lot of crashes in the area,” said Carson.
There have been some recent design changes to the project.
According to FDOT, the previous concept included widening the existing flyover bridge from southbound I-275 to eastbound I-4 and relocating the exit to Ybor City from 21st and 22nd Streets to 14th and 15th Streets.
The design change being proposed includes constructing a new two-lane flyover bridge to the inside of the interchange that drivers will use to access eastbound I-4. The existing one-lane flyover bridge is proposed to remain one lane, which drivers will use to access Ybor City via the relocated exit to 14th and 15th Streets.
Additional proposed design changes include constructing an additional auxiliary lane along eastbound I-4 between I-275 and the exit to the Selmon Expressway and creating a two-lane exit to the Selmon Expressway.
Some people who live in the area have concerns about the project.
“A lot of us, I guess, within the immediate footprint of the interstate system, we just really feel like the whole project itself is not going to do much of anything,” said Christopher Vela, who lives near the interchange.
Neighbors said they’re specifically worried about relocating the access to Ybor City to 14th and 15th Streets.
“We don’t want to have a lot of interstate traffic directly hitting these local streets, especially with 14th and 15th becoming more bike-friendly. There’s parks there, there’s Cuscaden park, there’s schools there,” said Vela. “We’re spending 10s of millions of dollars just making streets safer for everybody, especially in the urban core area, so it just doesn’t make sense to me that they would want to open up more exits from the interstate to go directly to Ybor,” he added.
As they work to finalize plans, FDOT leaders want more community input.
Project managers are holding public meetings this month to talk about the project, update the community, and get feedback on design ideas.
- Thursday, Jan. 19, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Children’s Board of Hillsborough County: 1002 East Palm Avenue
- Thursday, Jan. 26, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Ragan Park Community Center: 1200 East Lake Avenue
- Tuesday, Jan. 31, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m, virtually
You can register for the virtual meeting at www.TampaBayNext.com.
“Essentially, these meetings are meeting with the community. We’ve been engaging with them for several years, just trying to find out what they want and community spaces. What aesthetic and enhances they want to see in their community, and really getting all of their feedback,” said Carson.
Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
