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Neighborhood Report

A 'smooth' ride into the city

The newly opened elevated lanes on the Crosstown Expressway cut travel time and boosted style from 63 feet above.

By TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Published July 21, 2006

BRANDON - The elevated lanes of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway opened Tuesday morning, giving eastern Hillsborough commuters a faster - and sleeker - way to get downtown.

Later next month, officials will reverse the lanes so motorists can drive westbound during the morning rush hour and eastbound during the afternoon rush hour.

"I think it's going to be worth it," said Roy Schiro, 69, who works for a Brandon pest control company and often makes the trek to Tampa. He arrived at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday to try out the lanes.

When the light turned green, Schiro and a handful of other drivers stepped on the gas, honked their horns and waved goodbye to the TV cameras and photographers documenting the occasion.

"Look at 'em!" shouted Ben Muns, chief engineer for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority. "God, they're happy."

And they should be.

Commuters who tried the elevated lanes Tuesday morning marveled at how much faster they reached downtown. In several test drives by St. Petersburg Times reporters, the new section cut 6 to 16 minutes from the Brandon-to-Tampa drive.

Ray Eydmann, who works for Tampa Electric, has taken the Crosstown for 13 years. He leaves early each day to nab a downtown parking meter for his BMW motorcycle. Now he can sleep a little longer and enjoy a more scenic drive.

"It's kind of a different look being up there," he said. "There's no trees, no nothing up there. It's just a whole different perspective."

It's a perspective Vince Arcuri likes.

"It was very smooth, smooth as glass. It's going to be a huge improvement," said Arcuri, who lives in Valrico and takes the Crosstown on his way to work in St. Petersburg. He said the new toll road shaved 15 minutes off his commute.

Then there were those scared to venture onto the span, which at its peak hovers more than 60 feet above the road below.

"I would walk to MacDill (Air Force Base) before I'd get on that upper level. And I don't want to be on the lower level when it comes down on top of me, either," said Jennifer Kodalen of Valrico.

She said she will continue to use the original Crosstown but leave the new express lanes to others. "They just have more faith than I do. Everybody can prove me wrong. That would be awesome."

Ralph Mervine, executive director of the expressway authority, tried Tuesday to ease the fears of those like Kodalen.

"We understand people's concerns," Mervine said. "We haven't cut any corners on making repairs."

For now, officials will open the three westbound lanes to Tampa each day from 6 to 10 a.m. Mervine said work continues on the eastbound toll system. When that is done, presumably in late August, officials plan to reverse the lanes each afternoon about 3 p.m., sending rush-hour traffic from downtown Tampa to Brandon.

The road is open only to drivers with a SunPass transponder, and the toll for now will remain at $1. Unless, of course, you plan to mimic the driver of a black Corvette, who received the elevated highway's first ticket after racing 81 mph toward the Tampa skyline in the predawn darkness.

The speed limit is 60.

A version of this story appeared in other sections of the Times. Staff writers Brady Dennis, Alexandra Zayas, Elisabeth Dyer and Jonnelle Marte contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 13:23:47]