By Kyle LoJacono
Drivers who frequent the I-75/I-275 split at the Hillsborough/Pasco county line have seen the beginning of the multi-stage, multi-million dollar project to widen the interstates.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is expanding the roadways from Bearss Avenue in Hillsborough to the Pasco/Hernando county line north of SR 52. Expected completion is 2015.
The overall idea to widen the interstates will relieve high traffic volume due to increasing population in northern Hillsborough and central and east Pasco counties.
“It’s been on the radar for a while,” said John McShaffrey, FDOT Public Information Officer. “The Tampa interstate study goes back to the 1980s. It wasn’t needed back then, but they could see there’d be a need for a widening in the future.”
FDOT statistics from 2010 show that as many as 75,550 vehicles drive on the two interstates through the project zone.
“The interstate is being widened according to the master plan for the interstate system in the Tampa Bay area, which calls for at least three lanes in each direction to reduce congestion and improve safety,” McShaffrey said. “Finishing this section will complete I-275 widening north of downtown and will also work in conjunction with the coming widening of I-75.”
The southern end of the project is already underway. It started in fall 2009 and includes improvements to the SR 56 exit ramps from both I-275 and I-75. That portion comes with a $29.9 million price tag and is scheduled to be finished in the fall of 2015.
Additionally, construction crews began the $20.5 million widening of I-275 from Bearss to where it splits with I-75 from four to six lanes, a stretch of 5.7 miles. New lanes will not be added in the 2.3-mile stretch where the Hillsborough and southern-most Pasco projects meet.
“In that location the new exit ramps are very long and will act as the widened lanes,” McShaffrey said.
The remaining widening in Pasco is not yet fully funded and parts are still about a year from starting, but FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson said it will happen.
The first step is to take the 4.3-mile stretch of I-75 from just south of SR 56 to north of SR 54 from four to eight lanes at a cost of $22.5 million. That job is fully funded and began in March. It will also improve drainage and add overhead signage and high-mast lighting. There will be periodic lane closures from 8 p.m.-5 a.m.
The project will be complicated near the Tampa North Aero Park in Wesley Chapel, as that facility is very close to the existing lanes. The new roadway will shift slightly east, which will avoid the small airport and reduced the price of right-of-way land purchase.
The widening from SR 56 to SR 54 is scheduled for completion by fall 2012, but McShaffrey said the job is well ahead of that pace.
“It is likely this project will finish around eight months ahead of schedule,” McShaffrey said.
The next step is to take I-75 from four to six lanes from SR 54 to north of SR 52, a stretch of about 16 miles. It will also include resurfacing the existing lanes, lengthening of the interstate’s bridge over SR 52 to accommodate the state road’s future widening and building a new loop ramp to allow more drivers facing west on SR 52 to enter I-75.
Very little of the SR 54 to SR 52 widening is funded, with only $6 million allocated toward funding.
The northern portion will expand I-75 from four to six lanes from just north of SR 52 to the Hernando County Line, a distance of about 10 miles. FDOT has allocated $13.8 million for right-of-way land purchases and $3.3 million for design, but the actual construction is not yet funded.
