On March 27, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC) held its 23rd Annual Future of the Region Awards program, recognizing outstanding achievements and contributions benefiting the regional community. Imagine Hillsborough 2040 was pleased to receive two top honors - First Place in the Public Education category and the One Bay Award. Imagine 2040, a partnership between the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Planning Commission, garnered the greatest amount of public participation ever achieved by these organizations.  

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County Commissioner Les Miller, Chair of the Hillsborough MPO and the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC), recently discussed the importance of preparing our roads and transit for extreme weather events on the award winning television series, Innovations with Ed Begley, Jr. The program will air on the Discovery Channel in May 2015 and on FOX Business in June/July 2015. Hillsborough County transportation infrastructure consists of over 4100 miles of roads, Tampa International Airport, Port Tampa Bay, and U.S. Central Command at MacDill AFB. Many of these assets are in flood prone areas and may be more vulnerable with future sea level changes. 

Funded with a special grant from Federal Highway Administration, the MPO study was one of many efforts underway in the Tampa Bay area. The Hillsborough County EPC and Local Mitigation Strategy Working Group, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Tampa Bay Water, Tampa Bay Climate Science Advisory Panel, One Bay Resilient Community's Work Group and US Department of Homeland Security are also working together to identify, address, and mitigate a variety of potential hazards that could affect the county's residents and businesses. Tune in to hear Commissioner Miller discuss more about mitigation efforts related to resiliency and extreme weather. For more information, contact Allison Yeh at [email protected] or 813/273-3774 x351.

Commuters struggling with seemingly never-ending construction got a break late last month when the Florida Department of Transportation opened three new lanes on I-275 between downtown Tampa and Westshore Boulevard. The new southbound lanes match the northbound lanes that were reconstructed in 2010 and complete a major part of widening I-275 from SR 60 (Memorial Hwy) to the Hillsborough River. The new lanes reduce the curves and are flatter to reduce the "roller coaster effect." As part of the project, all exit and entrance ramps between downtown and Westshore reverted back to the right side of the road. Taken together, the new lanes should allow for safer and faster travel between two of the region's major employment hubs.

The $217 million project will eventually add a fourth lane in the southbound direction and is expected to be completed by late next year. It also provides a wide median that could accommodate express lanes and even fixed-guideway transit in the long term. Speaking to the Tampa Bay Times, MPO Executive Director Beth Alden compared the project to I-4, which also has a wide median for future transit use. "I-275 down to Westshore is now undergoing that same transformation," she said. "What it does is open the doors to some possibilities for these corridors in the future."

Also making progress is the Veterans Expressway expansion project, removing the toll plazas and converting the expressway to an all-electronic toll collection system enabling payment without stopping. Drivers will use Sunpass or toll-by-plate. The $266 million project began in 2013 and will also add express lanes the median. The express lanes will use higher toll levels in the peak period to keep traffic moving and bypass congestion. It is being built in stages:

• New ramps at Linebaugh Ave are nearly complete, with southbound ramps due to open this month and northbound ramps opening this summer
• Widening between Wilsky Rd and Gunn Hwy expected to be done this summer
• All-electronic tolling expected to be enacted in June
• Gunn Hwy southbound ramp is underway, with completion expected late 2015
• Widening from Memorial Hwy to Barry Rd is underway, with completion expected by mid-2016
• Barry Rd to Linebaugh Ave is underway, with completion due in early 2016
• Widening from Gunn Hwy to Sugarwood Plaza is getting started and expected to wrap up later in 2016
• Widening from Sugarwood Plaza to Van Dyke Rd is getting underway, with completion expected by late 2017

For more information, contact Rich Clarendon [email protected] at 813/273-3774 x368.

Recently, an MPO committee provided review comments to the Florida Department of Transportation  (FDOT) for a roadway widening in north Hillsborough County on US 301. The FDOT is conducting a Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study to evaluate the expansion of a 13.8 mile segment of US 301 from its current two-lane undivided configuration to a divided roadway facility with paved shoulders, sidewalks/ shared use paths in each direction, pedestrian features, and drainage improvements. The project is from Fowler Avenue to the proposed SR 56 (Pasco). For more information contact Stephanie Pierce at 813/975-6445 or [email protected].