By Kyle LoJacono
The first widening project in the 19-year history of the Veterans Expressway got underway April 29.
The $386 million project will expand the entire 11-mile toll road in Hillsborough County from four to eight lanes, according to Christa Deason, public information officer for the Florida Turnpike system. The job will also reconstruct the 38 existing bridges on the Veterans while building three new ones.
“The widening is being done because 150,000 cars use the Veterans each day,” Deason said. “That’s 300 percent more than when it opened in 1994.”
The improvements are divided into three phases, with the area between Memorial and Gunn highways getting underway first.
The final stage, which is set to start in 2015, will widen the road between the Sugarwood Toll Plaza in Odessa and Van Dyke Road in Lutz.
Deason said the project will also replace all the tollbooths from cash collection stations to ones that either deduct money from a SunPass account or send drivers a monthly bill for using the highway.
“All the booths will be all-electronic by this time next year, and maybe before that,” Deason said. “Drivers who don’t have a SunPass will be charged a monthly service charge, so getting a SunPass will save drivers money.”
Deason said those with SunPasses will also save 25 cents while going through several tollbooths on top of not having to pay the service charge.
Deason said plans are in the works to widen the Suncoast Parkway from the W. Lutz Lake Fern Road exit in northern Hillsborough through Pasco County, but no details or funding have been set.
“We will be converting all the tollbooths on the Suncoast to all-electronic ones too,” Deason said. “That will get started once the resurfacing work in Pasco County is done. … That should be in the next week or so if we don’t get a lot of rain.”
The project in Pasco resurfaced the entire 20-mile stretch of the Suncoast in the county at a cost of $18.5 million. Deason said they will start a similar project in Hernando County in the next few months.
Deason said drivers on the Veterans should watch for lane shifting and various lane coursers throughout the project.
For up-to-date lane closure information, visit floridasturnpike.com/construction_update_CentralFla.cfm#7.
