Tampa’s Downtown Interchange is a source of congestion, frustration, and sometimes crashes, but unclogging the bottlenecks will impact neighborhoods like Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, Ybor, and the Downtown Arts District.
On Tuesday, March 22, engineers and planners took a bus and walking tour to view the areas where the Tampa Bay Express project is proposed to be built firsthand. The tour was organized by the Florida Center for Community Design and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to put the spotlight on the impacts of the wider footprint of the project. The reevaluation report is expected to be complete in late 2016 or early 2017.
FDOT opened the Tampa Bay Express – Community Engagement Office which is staffed by a local Public Information Office representative on March 28th. The office was established to provide the local community convenient access during the week and on Saturdays to a knowledgeable FDOT staffer that can answers questions regarding the project.
In March and April, FDOT has been holding a third round of community engagement workshops with interested citizens. The workshops focus on specific neighborhoods. A wrap up meeting will be scheduled following these remaining workshop dates:
[list type=””][li]April 11 5:30p–Community focus area: West River @ John F Germany Library 900 N Ashley Dr, Tampa[/li][li]April 12 5:30p–Community focus area: Tampa Heights @ John F Germany Library 900 N Ashley Dr, Tampa [/li][li]April 18 5:30p–Community focus areas: Ybor/Historic/VM/East Tampa @ Children’s Board 1002 E Palm Ave, Tampa[/li][/list]