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Studies Contract Awarded For Cross Creek

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LAURA KINSLER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

NEW TAMPA - The city has awarded a $439,000 contract for engineering and environmental studies for widening the final segment of Cross Creek Boulevard.

The URS Corp., which also consulted with the city on the New Tampa Boulevard Bridge project, was selected for the project development and environmental study.

The city did not do a PD&E study when it widened Phase 2, the segment between Clay Gully and Cory Lake Isles, but the Tampa Transportation Department received about $1 million in federal funding for the final segment. The PD&E is a requirement to collect the federal funds, transportation director Jean Dorzback said.

Phase 2, completed in 2007, cost about $6 million. The department has estimated that widening the final 2.5-mile segment, from Cory Lake Isles to Morris Bridge Road, could reach $20 million — a price that doesn't include the PD&E study or right of way.

"The cost estimate is for construction, engineering and inspection," Dorzback said. "It's a very broad planning number."

The city owns sufficient right of way for the widening, but it may have to buy land for drainage or intersection improvements, she added.

At a transportation summit in New Tampa in May, some questioned why the project would be so much more expensive than the second phase. Even Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio wondered aloud if widening Cross Creek is a good idea, since Hillsborough County has no plans to widen Morris Bridge Road.

Dorzback said that URS would conduct a detailed traffic analysis to demonstrate the need for the project.

In 2006, the city traffic count for that segment of Cross Creek Boulevard was fewer than 7,500 vehicle trips per day. In January 2008, it was nearly 30,000.

Wally Blain, principle planner for the Metropolitan Planning Commission, said the increase could be attributed partially to residential and commercial growth in the area. The past two years has seen hundreds of new homes built in K-Bar Ranch, as well as a 98-unit town house community and a new apartment complex on Cross Creek.

But a bigger factor could be that more drivers are using Morris Bridge Road to access Interstate 75. The timing coincides with the construction of a new flyover entrance ramp from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to I-75.

"I would suspect that people are avoiding Bruce B. Downs [Boulevard]," Blain said.

Bill Martello, president of the Heritage Isles Homeowners Association, said Cross Creek is extremely congested during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

"A whole bunch of people who used to go to Bruce B. Downs are now using Morris Bridge to get downtown," he said. "During rush hour, it can be treacherous to make a left turn out of our community."

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844 or lkinsler@tampatrib.com.

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