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Relief in sight on 40th street

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By KATHY STEELE

ksteele@tampatrib.com

Published: November 11, 2009

EAST TAMPA - The push to widen 40th Street goes back four decades to residents' pleas to then-Mayor Nick Nuccio for help. Promises were made, but nothing happened.

It was in 2003 when Mayor Pam Iorio made the project a priority for her administration after residents lobbied one more time for their neighborhood.

"I could sense the desperation on the part of this group," the mayor said.

Recently, Iorio, city officials, residents and members of the 40th Street Task Force celebrated the groundbreaking for the final segment of the $100 million project to widen 4.2 miles of 40th from two to four lanes between Hillsborough and Fowler avenues.

The last stretch will widen the road from Hanna Avenue to Hillsborough, adding two lanes, landscaping, streetlights and sidewalks at a cost of about $5 million. Completion is anticipated in March 2011, giving Iorio the hope of cutting the ribbon on a finished roadway before she leaves office.

"For the rest of my life I'm just going to feel awfully good about it," Iorio said.

Residents and business owners on the already completed portions are relieved the construction jumble has moved beyond their storefronts and homes. Most like the results: better traffic flow, safer roads, public bus bays, striped bicycle lanes, and ready access to shops and restaurants.

On the roadway north of East Hillsborough Avenue some sections are headed for a 2010 completion as the final segment gears up for its construction start. It is a montage of homes, apartments, mom-and-pop shops and restaurants, and churches. Auto repair and detailing, seafood, barbecue and hair cuts are plentiful on the East Tampa thoroughfare.

"This should have been done a long time ago," said Carlton Williams, owner of the 40th St. Barber Shop & Beauty Salon. "But you know they don't put money in the 'hood. We're always the last on the block for anything."

He fussed about road work blocking off the strip mall where his shop is located, and the long construction schedule. "People avoided coming down here," Williams said.

But he said with construction in his area done, business is returning to its normal pace, and a new traffic light at 40th and River Grove Drive has made traffic flow much better. "It's looking better than it ever has."

And Williams has heard talk that a new tenant might open a restaurant at the strip mall.

The project hasn't always gone smoothly. Tampa City Council Chairman Tom Scott remembered when he was a county commissioner in the mid-1990s and estimated costs for the proposed project were about $53 million.

As construction began more than six years ago, estimates pegged the costs closer to $80 million. Costs hit the $100 million mark as the work met with delays in obtaining rights of way, and construction costs rose.

Two years ago residents feared the project would come to a halt when a construction bid came in about $6 million higher than expected. City officials opted to reallocate money from one segment to another to move the widening forward and build a new bridge across the Hillsborough River.

As the economy has down-sized, later bids have been less than expected and have held the cost to $100 million. "We've made some money back," said the city's public works and utilities administrator, Steve Daignault.

Residents and city officials haven't always seen eye-to-eye on the project. Iorio, who has attended some task force meetings, said her staff would tell her other meetings were "rambunctious, loud or everyone was upset."

But, Iorio said, "It means the process is working. It's a darned good marriage. Sometimes we fussed with each other, but we've reached a goal."

At last week's groundbreaking everyone appeared satisfied.

Resident Richard Formica pedaled to the ceremony in the new bicycle lanes. "Two years ago I couldn't do that," he said.

The future looks brighter for new businesses and jobs, and should push older businesses to spruce up storefronts, said Joel Barnum, president of the Northeast Community Crimewatch & Civic Association. "I think the change in the road will make a more positive image."

Some older structures that were torn down will be replaced with new buildings. One example is Big John's Alabama Bar-B-Que, 5705 N. 40th St., which lost its building to the widening but has a new restaurant under construction.

Barnum said his one concern is too much right-of-way might have been sliced off for the widening, limiting some business options. He favors placing walking and bicycle trails, and landscaping, on those narrow sites as a "positive inducement" to attract more businesses or community uses.

Melvin Collins echoed that sentiment. "The aesthetics of my neighborhood is going to be on par with the rest (of the city's) neighborhoods. We are a gateway to Busch Gardens. If this gets better, we get better."

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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