West Meadows objects to east-west road plans

The community fears an increase in crime and traffic and lower-property rates would follow.

By MICHAEL SANDLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 9, 2000

WEST MEADOWS -- Most of New Tampa agrees that traffic is a major issue for the entire community.

With so much development, one would think plans for a bridge and road connecting New Tampa Boulevard and Commerce Park Boulevard across Interstate 75 would be met with overwhelming approval.

But one group is not leaping for joy. Residents of West Meadows say the bridge represents the first step toward building an east-west road linking Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Interstate 275.

"Most people view that as a critical link," said Bob Campbell, president of Citizens for West Meadows Inc., a group that opposes the connector road that would slice the development across the middle.

The plan is in its infancy. Elton Smith, transportation manager for Tampa's Department of Public Works, said an engineer from his department last week began drafting a request for qualifications. The request will be advertised to attract consultants for the project.

More steps follow. Once the ad is placed, consultants respond with their qualifications. City officials choose prospective candidates from the pool and conduct interviews. A committee then ranks them before advising the mayor on the best possible choices. Ultimately, the mayor makes the selection.

"We are just working on the draft right now," Smith said. "It's the next step right now."

The city's northernmost section continues to boom, with two new schools, hundreds of homes, businesses and community parks expected in the next few years. That translates into more vehicles along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, the only major roadway in and out of New Tampa.

For many, the solution has long been an east-west connector road -- a four-lane, limited-access extension of New Tampa Boulevard southeastward to I-275. But such a road is controversial in West Meadows. And the solution, at least according to one study, would be cost-ineffective.

Road plans lost momentum in February when URS Greiner Consultants released a $75,000 report to the city which stated that tolls in the first 10 years would not cover the cost of building the $30-million highway.

Ron Rotella, a special consultant to Mayor Dick Greco, said the city is not actively pursuing the east-west road, but that it is still being considered as a long-term transportation improvement.

"The bridge is not being built as the first leg of the east-west road," he said. "That will go forward on its own merits."

For now, Rotella said the city is focusing on the bridge, along with plans to widen Bruce B. Downs from four to six lanes and construct a fly-over entrance ramp from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard south onto I-75.

New Tampa Boulevard, a residential, east-west road, begins at Bruce B. Downs and ends near a patch of woods in West Meadows just shy of I-75. The bridge would extend the road to the southwest, crossing the interstate and connecting it with Tampa Palms Area 8, an undeveloped section of New Tampa that is the proposed site for a high school, a middle school, new homes and small businesses.

The road would veer south through the new community to Commerce Park Boulevard, a north-south road that runs behind the USAA corporate facility.

"The bridge is part of transportation improvements we need to make out there," Rotella said. "...The reason for the bridge is to get additional trips off Bruce B. Downs. That will serve the high school and middle school."

Smith agreed that the bridge and the connector are separate projects, but acknowledged their symbiotic relationship.

"Well, yes, the currently proposed location of the east-west road does tie into a further extension of New Tampa Boulevard to the west," he said. "This facility that we are talking about is intended to provide a connection to the other side of the Interstate. (The bridge is) in the approved comprehensive plan. At this point, what we are talking about undertaking is the next step in that process."

Like the road, the bridge must go through West Meadows, something that displeases residents. In April of 1999, they formed Citizens for West Meadows Inc., to fight the highway. Now, they say the bridge is merely an increment of the east-west road.

"In spite of the fact that the road is not financially feasible, it is still on the (City's) cost-affordable plan," said Marshall Adams, vice president for the Citizen for West Meadows Inc. "Mayor Greco has stated publicly that he will not take this road off of the agenda."

The group contends that the highway would compromise the safety of the neighborhood, increase crime and traffic, and lower property values by attracting more commercial business.

"The connector road is actually going to be an expressway that will subdivide the community of West Meadows," Adams said.

West Meadows has found itself in the minority among New Tampa communities on this issue. Adams said the group withdrew its representative from the nongovernmental New Tampa Transportation Task Force after finding itself in a "political no-win situation."

Don Nevins, who lives in Pebble Creek and chairs the task force, said he has asked West Meadows to return. He said they refuse to do so unless the task force agrees to drop proposals on the east-west highway and the bridge.

"New Tampa is probably the only area in Hillsborough County that is landlocked from the standpoint that we only have a north-south exit, and that's Bruce B. Downs," Nevins said. "We have no outlets to the east, we have no outlets to the west."

Hoping to strike a compromise, Adams said he met with Greco in June to discuss the project. He and Campbell plan to meet again with city officials in the ensuing months.

"Basically, he explained his position, why he felt the road was a good thing and he would listen to the experts and do what they suggested," Adams said. "We stated our opposition and it was agreed that we needed to meet again and discuss it further."

City Councilman Shawn Harrison, who represents New Tampa, said the bridge and the highway should be viewed separately.

"The bridge is simply a connection between West Meadows, Richmond Place, Highwoods Preserve and Tampa Palms," Harrison said. "That will allow internal traffic -- initiated and completed in New Tampa -- to access those areas without having to go out on Bruce B. Downs."

- Michael Sandler can be reached at (813) 226-3472 or sandler@sptimes.com.

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