More dark detours in dark on Bruce B. Downs

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 1, 2007

TAMPA - Another four nights were added Friday to the schedule of closings that make New Tampa's main boulevard impassable at the Interstate 75 interchange.

The Florida Department of Transportation announced that Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, while remaining open tonight, will close at 8:30 p.m. every night through Thursday, reopening each morning at 5 a.m.

Detours will send motorists onto I-75 for a trip to the next exit.

There, they can switch directions and reach the opposite site of Bruce B. Downs at the interchange.

The closings have been scheduled as contractors lift girders into place for a new flyover at the interchange.

When completed in Spring 2009, the project will allow southbound drivers on Bruce B. Downs to merge onto southbound I-75 via a tall ramp instead of a left turn at a traffic light.

In another side effect of the construction, the department announced Friday evening that the left northbound lane of I-75 will be closed at Bruce B. Downs for three nights beginning Wednesday.

Those closings are to begin at 9 p.m. and end at 5 a.m.

[Last modified November 30, 2007, 23:45:08]