By Matt Wiley
Transportation is obviously still a big issue here in New Tampa. With portions of our area’s main artery, Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., likely to still be under construction for several years, it comes as no surprise that residents are concerned.
During a meeting at the New Tampa Rec Center (located off Commerce Park Blvd. in Tampa Palms), attendees had a chance to let transportation officials know what they think about the current state of New Tampa’s roads, intersections and access to public transportation.
On March 9, more than 50 people attended the “Go Hillsborough” transportation meeting, which featured an interactive presentation, along with maps on which residents could specifically draw where they think there are problems in the area.
Go Hillsborough is an effort being led by the Transportation for Economic Development initiative, which is made up of all seven Hillsborough County commissioners, the mayors of Plant City, Tampa and Temple Terrace, as well as the chair of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transportation (HART) Board and members of the Parsons Brinckerhoff engineering firm (which specializes in transportation and was chosen by county staff among 20 other firms because of its extensive national experience). According to the group’s website (GoHillsborough.com), the goal of the group is to “study, develop, and create consensus around a comprehensive community mobility plan that ensures continued quality of life and economic prosperity now and well into the future.”
The New Tampa meeting was the eighth of 36 public meetings in the Go Hillsborough series. Another meeting will be held at the New Tampa Regional Library (10001 Cross Creek Blvd.) on Monday, April 20, 6 p.m.
“Before we put a plan together, we need to get out and talk to people,” said Lori Hudson, special projects manager for Hillsborough County at the Mar. 9 meeting. “We need to find out what’s going in people’s everyday lives and what would make a difference in their everyday commutes. We’re all traveling somewhere.”
It wasn’t a typical community meeting, with a presentation from a representative and then a question-and-answer period at the end. Instead, different stations were set up around the room for people to learn from presentation boards that explained different aspects of transportation planning. There even was a station for attendees to mark with stickers which transportation issues were most important to them.
Different boards presented different information, including conceptuals of the more than 12,000 lane miles, 700 bridges and 600 signalized intersections in the county. Another station broke down how much ad valorem property tax actually goes toward funding transportation maintenance and needs, which is about two cents per tax dollar.
County staff also was on hand to answer any questions.
“Transportation is the most important issue in our community because it is (the) key to our prosperity,” said Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill at the meeting. “We can’t attract good jobs without good transportation.”
He added that the first part of the process for improving transportation is finding out what people want, followed by looking for resolutions and, finally, looking for ways to fund improvement projects.
“Different parts of the county have different needs,” Merrill said, adding that hot topics at the New Tampa meeting (and at the seven previous meetings) included the repaving of roads and more transit options, but not necessarily light rail.
“Some people just want a circulator bus,” Merrill said. “Others have suggested express buses. One way to achieve that is to dedicate lanes for express buses so that they actually can be ‘express.’ That could do a lot to help transit (countywide) without spending the money for light rail.”
New Tampa resident Bruce Maier said at the meeting, for example, that he’d be more interested in additional buses than light rail.
“Rail is wonderful, but where are you going to put it up here?,” Maier asked. “The main thing with rail is that you need a central location. I think buses are more convenient than rail because buses don’t need tracks. Let mass transit prove itself with buses, first, before you put in light rail.”
Maier said that he’s more concerned with looking for ways to bypass BBD and said that he was interested in the proposed East-West Connector (E-W Rd.), which currently is unfunded in the county’s 2040 Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The E-W Rd. would connect BBD with I-275 by extending New Tampa Blvd. (the main roadway through West Meadows) from where it currently ends at Commerce Park Blvd. in Tampa Palms and connecting it to a new I-275 interchange.
New Tampa resident Victoria Barnes, 22, came out for a different reason altogether — to let transportation officials know about the new stoplight at E. Fletcher Ave. to enter northbound I-75. “The light should be a yield, but it’s a red light,” Barnes said. “It’s causing a lot of traffic and I wanted my voice to be heard.”
Barnes said that even at low traffic times, the left-turn light to access the interstate remains red, when a flashing yellow light would suffice. She marked the light on the map in the center of the room.
“I think that map is very important for this meeting,” Barnes said. “It really lets people highlight the important issues (to them).”
For info about GO Hillsborough, visit GOHillsborough.com.
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