Interstate 275 Tampa

[Alex]

Checking up on the status of some of the major work involving Interstate 275 in Tampa/St. Pete. According to the MyTBI web site, the relocation of Interstate 275 north from the original three-lane carriageway onto a relocated four-lane carriageway should have been completed last month. Web site: http://www.tbinterstates.com/projects/projectinfo.asp?projectID=158&RoadID=1 Start Date: August 13, 2007; Estimated Completion Date: September 2009

This work is similar to what was done along Interstate 4, which upgraded the original freeway to include a wider footprint with a grassy median between two wider roadways.



Work is still underway involving the Florida 60/I-275/Tampa International Airport interchange confluence: http://www.tbinterstates.com/projects/projectinfo.asp?projectID=72&RoadID=1 Work started August 15, 2005 with an estimated Completion by Spring 2010. I used to commute daily through the mess between Interstate 275 to Florida Toll 589, and it always clogged during the evening commute. It has been since January of 2008 since I was last through on SR-60, and at that time a new high flyover from the airport just opened.



A project to add a missing movement between Interstate 275 north and Pinellas County 296 is now underway: http://www.tbinterstates.com/projects/projectinfo.asp?projectID=170&RoadID=1 CR-296 is supposed to be upgraded to limited-access standards between the Interstate and the upgraded U.S. 19 freeway corridor eventually.



A much needed change is underway at the Interstate 275 northbound ramps from the Howard Frankland Bridge area to Florida 60 (Memorial Highway). http://www.tbinterstates.com/projects/projectinfo.asp?projectID=171&RoadID=1 This work will replace the separate ramp movements into one ramp departure and lengthen the approach to it and separate it from the freeway mainline. I cannot tell you how often I would trudge from the hump on the Frankland Bridge to the subpar ramp to Memorial westbound...

It will be awhile until I am next in Tampa, but I am interested in checking out the progress of all these projects.

[NJRoadfan]

I might be there in January. I had to deal with that construction mess at the airport last January. So far, PHL is the only airport I've ever been to that hasn't been under construction. Airports and roadwork... perfect together!

[NJRoadfan]

Well I'm back from FL. Here is what I saw.

1. The relocated northbound I-275 through Tampa is open. Pretty impressive to rebuild a highway in the middle of a city like that, ROW must have been cheap. No work on the southbound side yet, one would assume they will eventually rebuild it.

2. The mess near the airport seems to be mostly done. The exit ramps on I-275 north to FL-60 are still kinda brain dead. Is there any reason why I-275 north's through traffic is forced into 2 lanes? Does enough traffic exit here to merit it? Didn't seem like it during evening rush hour.

3. Work at the overpowered CR-296 interchange seems to be starting, a lot of construction equipment there. That would be a nice improvement, CR-296 actually has a median there to limit ROW taking. Its annoying to exit northbound at Gandy and trudge over to US-19.

4. Speaking of US-19, construction work has started to remove the existing lights between Haines Bayshore Rd. and Gulf-To-Bay Blvd (FL-60). Right now its mostly median work and left turn lane closings.

5. Construction on Ulmerton Rd. (FL-688) from I-275 to Belcher Rd. is finally done.

[Alex]

Well I'm back from FL. Here is what I saw.

1. The relocated northbound I-275 through Tampa is open. Pretty impressive to rebuild a highway in the middle of a city like that, ROW must have been cheap. No work on the southbound side yet, one would assume they will eventually rebuild it.

They had to split the project in two because of funding issues. The expansion also will continue west from Dale Mabry, but that was split into a separate project because of funding issues as well. The former carriageway for northbound is retained for now because they will use it temporarily as they build the new southbound.

2. The mess near the airport seems to be mostly done. The exit ramps on I-275 north to FL-60 are still kinda brain dead. Is there any reason why I-275 north's through traffic is forced into 2 lanes? Does enough traffic exit here to merit it? Didn't seem like it during evening rush hour.

I don't know if they plan to get rid of that bottleneck. There are expansion plans for the ramps to and from Memorial, which are badly needed. The bottleneck with I-275 north is the reason why its so bad during afternoon/evening peak hours heading into Tampa. The ramp to Memorial should be two lanes, and I believe they are doing initial work on that now.

3. Work at the overpowered CR-296 interchange seems to be starting, a lot of construction equipment there. That would be a nice improvement, CR-296 actually has a median there to limit ROW taking. Its annoying to exit northbound at Gandy and trudge over to US-19.

My understanding is that ultimately CR 296 will be upgraded to to tie into the U.S. 19 freeway. However the interchange between CR 296 and US 19 is planned as a SPUI.

4. Speaking of US-19, construction work has started to remove the existing lights between Haines Bayshore Rd. and Gulf-To-Bay Blvd (FL-60). Right now its mostly median work and left turn lane closings.

I did not get a chance to check out the freeway upgrade along US 19 last weekend they way I wanted to. The part south of Largo was about one third of the way completed in July 2008 when I last checked it out.

5. Construction on Ulmerton Rd. (FL-688) from I-275 to Belcher Rd. is finally done.

Finally      What a mess that was...

[NJRoadfan]

Well I'm back from FL. Here is what I saw.

1. The relocated northbound I-275 through Tampa is open. Pretty impressive to rebuild a highway in the middle of a city like that, ROW must have been cheap. No work on the southbound side yet, one would assume they will eventually rebuild it.

They had to split the project in two because of funding issues. The expansion also will continue west from Dale Mabry, but that was split into a separate project because of funding issues as well. The former carriageway for northbound is retained for now because they will use it temporarily as they build the new southbound.

2. The mess near the airport seems to be mostly done. The exit ramps on I-275 north to FL-60 are still kinda brain dead. Is there any reason why I-275 north's through traffic is forced into 2 lanes? Does enough traffic exit here to merit it? Didn't seem like it during evening rush hour.

I don't know if they plan to get rid of that bottleneck. There are expansion plans for the ramps to and from Memorial, which are badly needed. The bottleneck with I-275 north is the reason why its so bad during afternoon/evening peak hours heading into Tampa. The ramp to Memorial should be two lanes, and I believe they are doing initial work on that now.

3. Work at the overpowered CR-296 interchange seems to be starting, a lot of construction equipment there. That would be a nice improvement, CR-296 actually has a median there to limit ROW taking. Its annoying to exit northbound at Gandy and trudge over to US-19.

My understanding is that ultimately CR 296 will be upgraded to to tie into the U.S. 19 freeway. However the interchange between CR 296 and US 19 is planned as a SPUI.

I did not get a chance to check out the freeway upgrade along US 19 last weekend they way I wanted to. The part south of Largo was about one third of the way completed in July 2008 when I last checked it out.

All of the interchange construction on US-19 between 126th Ave. and 49th St. N is complete. 118th Ave./Bryan Dairy Rd. is indeed a SPUI now. It would be nice to have a freeway to freeway connector between US-19 and I-275, but thats not likely to happen anytime soon.