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I-275 Work Creates Detour For North Boulevard Drivers

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2008

WEST TAMPA - Sylvia Helms is taking the road less traveled.

She used to head north on North Boulevard and make a right at Main Street to drop off and pick up her two daughters at Blake High School. But since North Boulevard was closed last month at Interstate 275, she has used the recommended detour and an alternative route she found, adding about 10 minutes to her commute from Riverview.

"I think it is impacting everybody," Helms said. "It is kind of an inconvenience, but what are you going to do?"

The Florida Department of Transportation said the closure will continue until June 30. Crews are digging a huge trench to install 72-inch-wide storm pipes that will run north and south of the interstate, FDOT spokesman John McShaffrey said.

The work is moving slowly because some underground utility lines are old and crews might not know their location.

"It makes it slower because you have to be careful not to interrupt any of those services," McShaffrey said.

The work is part of a $107 million project to expand northbound I-275 from three lanes to four from Himes Avenue to the Hillsborough River.

Motorists are being detoured onto Cass Street, Willow Avenue and Main. Trucks are being redirected to Armenia and Howard avenues because both roads are less residential and Willow is not a truck route, McShaffrey said.

He said the agency has received few complaints, although residents near Willow have noticed more traffic, including school and public buses.

McShaffrey said the initial plan was to close one direction of North Boulevard at a time, but the size of the trench and the pipes would have made that unsafe and the work less efficient.

Valerie Goddard's son attends Blake, and the Egypt Lake woman said she does business in downtown and visits family in South Tampa. She said the road closure is forcing her to plan her trips and give herself an extra 30 minutes to reach her destination.

Goddard said she learned about the closure two weeks before it happened from a letter the school distributed. She wishes meetings had been scheduled to give people time to prepare.

"By the time we were notified, they were probably ready to break ground," Goddard said.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 835-2110 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

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