Bracing For Boom, Bridges On Alafia

By RICH SHOPES The Tampa Tribune

Published: Oct 8, 2007

GIBSONTON - Planners worried about future traffic congestion in fast-growing south Hillsborough County have suggested building two bridges across the Alafia River.

The proposal calls for a four-lane bridge at 78th Street South and extending the road to connect the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway in Tampa to Big Bend Road in Apollo Beach.

The second bridge would be two lanes at Valrie Lane in what now is a quiet, rustic area with dirt driveways, palmettos and a handful of houses. Valrie then would be linked to West Bloomingdale Avenue about a mile north.

The proposals are conceptual and not funded - even if the money could be found, work on the bridges wouldn't start for at least a decade - but officials have scheduled two town hall meetings this month to hear from local residents.

The goal, backers say, is to stay ahead of gridlock by finishing the preliminary work, engineering studies and some of the construction before the area's roads and bridges are swamped by retiring baby boomers and others moving to south Hillsborough.

"The long-term trend is growth, a lot of growth," said Ned Baier, manager of Hillsborough County's Transportation and Land Development Review Division. "The idea is to get ahead of that development."

About 150,000 people live in the area bounded by Gibsonton Road, the Manatee County line, the Polk County line and Tampa Bay. By 2030, that number is expected to double, and by 2050 it will balloon to 500,000, officials said.

Don't be fooled by the slumping real estate market, Baier said.

"These things happen in cycles," he said. "This is the fastest growing area of the county."

The two bridges are included in the South County Transportation Plan. Unveiled three weeks ago, the plan is a preliminary step for tackling the growth expected to hit south Hillsborough County by 2050.

The Hillsborough County Planning and Growth Management Department devised the plan over six months with input from two committees, one consisting of developers and citizens and the other of state and local planners.

Officials want the recommendations included in the county's comprehensive plan, the blueprint for future development and roads. That discussion is scheduled for January.

If the bridges proposal makes it into the comprehensive plan, the projects will require more studies to determine their locations and more public hearings. It could be at least 10 years before ground is broken, Baier said.

"There are a lot of hurdles and there will be lot of public hearings," he said.

Bypass, Road Widening, Rail In Plan

In addition to the two bridges, the South County plan calls for a bypass from north Manatee County to Brandon, the widening of several roads and construction of new ones and the creation of a passenger rail line from Tampa to Sarasota using existing CSX tracks.

The plan would affect rural areas as well as densely populated Sun City Center, Summerfield Crossings, Bloomingdale and south Riverview.

The bridge at Valrie Lane would connect motorists in south Riverview to Brandon, potentially relieving congested U.S. 301 and Bell Shoals Road. The two-lane span would cross about 120 feet of water.

The bridge at 78th Street would cross more than 1,000 feet of the river and could pave the way for a new north-south corridor between Apollo Beach and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway in Tampa, alleviating U.S. 41 and Interstate 75.

County officials have talked about the need for another crossing at the Alafia for years. Planners in 1991 included the 78th Street bridge in the county's 2010 transportation plan, but the project never received funding.

Bridge Costs Now Hard To Gauge

Officials aren't sure about costs for the new bridge now. A Florida Department of Transportation formula sets prices for bridge construction, depending on complexity, at $110 to $155 per square foot of deck area.

Roughly translated, a 1,000-foot, four-lane bridge with 10-foot shoulders and a 10-foot median can cost from $8.6 million to $12.1 million, not including the millions required for engineering, right-of-way acquisition and other unknowns.

It's also hard to say how long the 78th Street bridge would be.

So far, no engineering or design analysis has been conducted. The interstate bridge is 1,552 feet long, even though only half that distance is actually over water. The U.S. 41 bridge is 1,215 feet long but spans only about 700 feet of water.

"At this point these are very conceptual recommendations. We're really at the planning sketch level," said Keli Paul, a consultant on the South County plan.

Riverview and Gibsonton residents say they appreciate the need to tackle growth early but worry that their slow way of life on the river will suffer.

"I understand progress, but I think there has to be some part of old Florida left," said Bill Weisweaver, who lives with his wife, Kandi, in a small ranch-style house on Bay Avenue in Gibsonton.

Weisweaver has no neighbors in front or behind and keeps his boat docked along one of the many finger-like canals that extend from the Alafia. Mullet occasionally leap from the water and osprey and eagles fish along it, he said.

"The sad part is that a lot of people have never seen this. This isn't like Disney World," Weisweaver said.

Beverly Griffiths, who lives on the Alafia River near Valrie Lane, said the bridge would destroy the river's scenic beauty, and runoff from the bridge could cause environmental harm.

Once north of the river, Valrie Lane would slice through a forest largely untouched for decades. Griffiths said she worries the road extension would open up the forest to development.

"Those properties near the bridge would suffer," said Griffiths, who also chairs the Tampa Bay Sierra Club.

"I know we have to plan for the future, but do we always have to worry about who's coming? Let's worry about who's here now."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Meetings on the South County Transportation Plan

WHEN: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 23 and Oct. 24

WHERE: The first meeting is at the South Shore Regional Service Center, 410 30th St. S.E., Ruskin. The Oct. 24 meeting is at Riverview High School, 11311 Boyette Road, Riverview.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.