Construction slated to begin on Florida's I-4/Selmon Expressway Connector
The $400M elevated connector linking Interstate 4 and the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway in Tampa will start to take shape this month.
The direct route to downtown Tampa and the Port of Tampa is a $400 million project with dedicated truck lanes to alleviate congestion on the interchange and around Ybor City. It also will serve as a hurricane evacuation route.
The project is the largest construction contract that the Florida Department of Transportation District 7 has advertised for bidding, said Adam Perez, interstate project manager, in a release. It marks a collaborative effort between FDOT, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise and the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority.
It is the second project statewide to use a build-finance type of procurement method since the design plans were produced for the department, Perez said. Available funding required that the construction team finance a segment of the construction work.
The one-mile long connector will have a series of interconnecting lane ramps that merge into a 12-lane roadway. It is supported by about $100 million in stimulus funds designated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the release said.
PBS&J, based in Tampa, designed all but a northern section of the connector and will provide post-design services throughout construction. Completion is estimated for 2013.
Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal
