Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Let's talk about traffic

By MIKE BRASSFIELD
Published June 18, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Ken Helle] Don Skelton is secretary of transportation for District 7, which covers west-central Florida.

Traffic obviously is a pet peeve for many people in the Tampa Bay area. The Florida Department of Transportation will spend $9-billion this year, most of it on roads, but it's a tall order to keep up with the demand.

Don Skelton is secretary of transportation for District 7, which covers west-central Florida. In a recent interview with the St. Petersburg Times, he outlined future plans for Interstate 275, U.S. 19 and other major traffic arteries.

What's the most congested road in the Tampa Bay area? What's your highest priority?

I don't know if there's any one road you can point to and say, "This is the worst one." From a regional perspective, we're going to look at I-75, I-275, U.S. 19, I-4 as high priorities because they're moving the highest volume.

In Pinellas County, connecting I-275 with County Road 296 Bryan Dairy Road along 118th Avenue is a priority. Up in Pasco County, State Road 56, U.S. 41. State Road 50 up in Hernando, U.S. 19 in Citrus -- there's a lot of needs.

U.S. 19 in mid- and north Pinellas is being turned into a north-south highway, with overpasses replacing traffic-lighted intersections. What's next there?

We just finished (an overpass at) Drew Street and are fairly close to finishing at Sunset Point Road and Coachman Road. I think by the end of the year, the ones at 110th and 118th avenues will be under construction.

Then we've got two more between Whitney Road and State Road 60 ... then we'll get up to Curlew Road, Tampa Road and continue making our way north.

What about U.S. 19 in Pasco?

We're looking at adding a "continuous right turn lane" (effectively widening the road from six lanes to eight), similar to what we did in north Pinellas.

You're nearly finished widening I-4 in Hillsborough County, right?

I believe it'll be substantially complete in July. Now you have a continuous six lanes of through traffic from the downtown Tampa interchange all the way out to Polk County.

We can see the cleared land on the south side of I-275 west of downtown Tampa. When will you start widening the interstate from downtown to the Howard Frankland?

Construction will probably start in late summer. Obviously the I-275 corridor is one that's in great need of additional capacity ... There'll be an additional lane in each direction plus some auxiliary lanes. But just as important, the new configuration will have a very wide median because ultimately there will be some express lanes put in the middle.

Wasn't there also talk of running rail down that wide median?

There will be a transitway corridor that could be either ... rail or some other type of transit operation. It could even be bus rapid transit.

An elevated road between I-4 and the Crosstown Expressway has been planned for years. Will that ever get built?

We would look to "let" that project (put it out for bids) probably in late summer or early fall of 2009. It would probably open to traffic about four years later, in 2013.

The governor vetoed $1-million in startup money for the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority. We understand the RTA is supposed to spend its first two years working with your agency and others to come up with a regional master plan. How does the veto change things?

I don't think it changes anything from the department's standpoint. We're moving forward with our "Interstate of Transit" study (looking at the region's mass transit needs). If the RTA does get established, we'll work with the board to develop the components of the master plan.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at (813) 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 17, 2007, 18:57:17]