I-75 Widening Project Way Ahead Of Schedule

While it may seem like construction crews have been widening I-75 for an eternity through New Tampa and into Wesley Chapel, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) says the project is actually ahead of schedule by several months, despite crews still working underneath the Exit 270 (Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd.) interchange.

According to FDOT, Prince Contracting’s 11.4-mile, $95-million-project to widen I-75 from four to six and eight lanes between Fowler Ave. in Temple Terrace to just south of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel actually is nearly a year ahead of schedule. 

“We are in the final phases of construction on (I-75),” says FDOT spokesman John McShaffrey. “At some locations, traffic is already in its final configuration; other locations will be shifted into the final pattern in the next couple of months.”

The widening, which began in October 2011, has contract time available through the spring of 2016 to finish widening the interstate and complete the necessary improvements at the Fowler Ave. (Exit 265), Fletcher Ave. (Exit 266) and BBD interchanges. 

McShaffrey reports that current projections show that the project could be wrapped up as soon as early summer of 2015. While the southbound I-75 lanes are in their final configuration just north of the BBD interchange, work continues between S.R. 56 and the apex with I-275, as well as on the northbound lanes north of the BBD interchange up to the apex with I-275 (see map).

McShaffrey says that all lanes should be in their final configurations through New Tampa and Wesley Chapel by spring 2015.