Bruce B. Downs to close for a week

By MIKE BRASSFIELD, Times Staff Writer
Published November 14, 2007

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TAMPA 

Bruce B. Downs is shutting down.

The boulevard that's the only way in and out of New Tampa for most drivers will be completely closed at night at the Interstate 75 junction during the week after Thanksgiving.

It'll be blocked off from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. for construction work, forcing late-night or early morning drivers to be detoured nearly 10 miles out of their way.

This will start Monday night, Nov. 26, and will continue through the following Friday night. Crews will be installing steel girders for a new flyover ramp that will soon take southbound drivers on Bruce B. Downs to southbound I-75.

"It should not impact morning and evening drive-time traffic," said John McShaffrey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation.

Still, the road closure will be particularly inconvenient for some New Tampa residents because they have no alternate routes. Bruce B. Downs is their only thoroughfare.