HARTride 2012
March 2nd, 2009, 04:30 PM
On your marks....get ready.........CRAWL!
Widening Project Likely To Slow Glacial Traffic Pace
By RICH SHOPES
rshopes@tampatrib.com
Published: March 2, 2009
TAMPA - Traffic on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard is so bad North Tampa residents reschedule appointments, leave as much as an hour early to get to work or just stay home rather than get trapped in the bumper-to-bumper, rush-hour grind.
"You can sit for 10 minutes just waiting to get onto the road," said Dwayne James, a property manager who noted traffic in New York City, where he lived eight years ago, beats Bruce B. Downs.
"It's slow, but at least in New York it flows. Here, you just sit. Then you move an inch."
Get ready to make that half an inch.
In July, Hillsborough County is expected to launch a $104 million widening of Bruce B. Downs that's sure to stifle the road's already agonizingly slow pace.
Motorists by now might have noticed work crews a few weeks ago started putting up utility poles to push back transmission lines and installing conduit for copper and fiber-optic cables.
The work is in anticipation of the widening's first of three phases between Bearss Avenue and the Pasco County line - a 3.4-mile segment from Palm Springs Boulevard, south of Interstate 75, to Pebble Creek Drive on the interstate's north side.
The stretch sits smack in the middle of the worst of the congestion. About 60,000 vehicles a day drive that portion of Bruce B. Downs.
The county will likely advertise for contractors in April or May after getting approval from the state's Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, which is supplying about half the funds.
Then it's a matter of choosing a contractor. Expect 21/2 years of construction complete with orange barrels and daytime lane closures when the work finally starts.
"That's fine with me," said sheriff's Deputy Steve Ross, who lives in New Tampa. "I could care less about the construction. I just want it done."
Ross said traffic is slow enough, even after rush hour. When he's in a patrol car, it creeps along more slowly because motorists are afraid to push the accelerator. Having few alternate routes means drivers are forced to take Bruce B. Downs.
"It's horrible going south in the mornings and horrible going north in the evenings," Ross said as his 4-month-old golden retriever was waiting to get shots at the Pebble Creek Animal and Bird Hospital, which sits at the northernmost point of the project's first phase.
Jenifer Webber, a receptionist at the animal hospital, said she worries about how much worse traffic will get. It's so bad now, clients routinely show up late for appointments, citing congestion on Bruce B. Downs.
"There's not a day that goes by where it isn't bad; well, maybe Saturday and Sunday, but it can be bad on those days, too," she said. "I guess it will probably get worse before it gets better."
How much worse isn't known yet.
The work schedule is 1,000 days but where exactly workers start digging has yet to be fleshed out. That will be determined by the contractor once one is picked, said project manager Reg Alford. But much of the construction will happen during the day.
In addition to expanding the highway from four lanes to eight, the project will include sidewalks, a multiuse trail, stormwater sewer pipes to collect runoff and three retention ponds to hold the runoff.
The second phase, 1.5 miles from Pebble Creek to the Pasco County line, is expected to start in July 2011 and take about two years. The last segment, between Palm Springs Drive and Bearss Avenue, hasn't been scheduled because it isn't funded yet.
Alford said motorists can expect the entire project, Bearss to the county line, to take about 10 years.
Drivers won't have to wait that long for relief, though. Getting the first phase done should make a difference.
"That is the most congested area because of the commercial properties," Alford said. "The widening to eight lanes will help."
Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/02/na-widening-project-likely-to-slow-glacial-traffic/news-metro/
Widening Project Likely To Slow Glacial Traffic Pace
By RICH SHOPES
rshopes@tampatrib.com
Published: March 2, 2009
TAMPA - Traffic on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard is so bad North Tampa residents reschedule appointments, leave as much as an hour early to get to work or just stay home rather than get trapped in the bumper-to-bumper, rush-hour grind.
"You can sit for 10 minutes just waiting to get onto the road," said Dwayne James, a property manager who noted traffic in New York City, where he lived eight years ago, beats Bruce B. Downs.
"It's slow, but at least in New York it flows. Here, you just sit. Then you move an inch."
Get ready to make that half an inch.
In July, Hillsborough County is expected to launch a $104 million widening of Bruce B. Downs that's sure to stifle the road's already agonizingly slow pace.
Motorists by now might have noticed work crews a few weeks ago started putting up utility poles to push back transmission lines and installing conduit for copper and fiber-optic cables.
The work is in anticipation of the widening's first of three phases between Bearss Avenue and the Pasco County line - a 3.4-mile segment from Palm Springs Boulevard, south of Interstate 75, to Pebble Creek Drive on the interstate's north side.
The stretch sits smack in the middle of the worst of the congestion. About 60,000 vehicles a day drive that portion of Bruce B. Downs.
The county will likely advertise for contractors in April or May after getting approval from the state's Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, which is supplying about half the funds.
Then it's a matter of choosing a contractor. Expect 21/2 years of construction complete with orange barrels and daytime lane closures when the work finally starts.
"That's fine with me," said sheriff's Deputy Steve Ross, who lives in New Tampa. "I could care less about the construction. I just want it done."
Ross said traffic is slow enough, even after rush hour. When he's in a patrol car, it creeps along more slowly because motorists are afraid to push the accelerator. Having few alternate routes means drivers are forced to take Bruce B. Downs.
"It's horrible going south in the mornings and horrible going north in the evenings," Ross said as his 4-month-old golden retriever was waiting to get shots at the Pebble Creek Animal and Bird Hospital, which sits at the northernmost point of the project's first phase.
Jenifer Webber, a receptionist at the animal hospital, said she worries about how much worse traffic will get. It's so bad now, clients routinely show up late for appointments, citing congestion on Bruce B. Downs.
"There's not a day that goes by where it isn't bad; well, maybe Saturday and Sunday, but it can be bad on those days, too," she said. "I guess it will probably get worse before it gets better."
How much worse isn't known yet.
The work schedule is 1,000 days but where exactly workers start digging has yet to be fleshed out. That will be determined by the contractor once one is picked, said project manager Reg Alford. But much of the construction will happen during the day.
In addition to expanding the highway from four lanes to eight, the project will include sidewalks, a multiuse trail, stormwater sewer pipes to collect runoff and three retention ponds to hold the runoff.
The second phase, 1.5 miles from Pebble Creek to the Pasco County line, is expected to start in July 2011 and take about two years. The last segment, between Palm Springs Drive and Bearss Avenue, hasn't been scheduled because it isn't funded yet.
Alford said motorists can expect the entire project, Bearss to the county line, to take about 10 years.
Drivers won't have to wait that long for relief, though. Getting the first phase done should make a difference.
"That is the most congested area because of the commercial properties," Alford said. "The widening to eight lanes will help."
Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/02/na-widening-project-likely-to-slow-glacial-traffic/news-metro/