Thursday, March 6, 2008

Gandy "Improvement"


Many South Tampa residents attended the Gandy Improvement open house this evening, sponsored by FDOT. Florida Department of Transportation's contractor, Pepper Contracting, is making upgrades to Gandy Blvd. between the Gandy Bridge and Dale Mabry. (click on photo to enlarge it to see the HORC front gate.)


Construction activities include converting Gandy from a 4 lane road with a center turn lane to a 4 lane divided road with raised medians ranging in width from 14 to 30 feet, building new sidewalks and a multi-use trail and adding decorative lighting and landscaping.


The $21 million dollar project is expected to be complete in late 2010.


Project Administrator Rolando Luis Jr, when asked if a second story layer will be added in the future, answered "I hope so, what a great thing that would be." He is shown here with Bayside West Neighborhood Assn. vice-president Carol Johnson.
FDOT Community Relations Coordinator, Leo Folsom, poses with Regency Cove resident Larry Buttelwerth. Leo showed concern when we questioned her about the inabilty to access our park entrance from the west. Regency Cove cars towing boats coming from the Gandy boat ramp will be expected to make a Uturn at the Gandy /Westshore intersection. She admitted that this would certainly be a problem, and encourages us to fill out a comment form before we left.
Resident Mike Ross questioned several FDOT employees, and found the Access Manager. Mike pointed out to Steve Hodge the difficulty for all residents of Regency Cove and Culbreath Key returning with boats and trailers from the boat ramp area. Steve offered his office number for us to call and make a date on their calendar for a hearing to appeal the limited access. More information will follow.
If anyone missed the Open House, but would like to send a comment, please contact Lori Buck, Florida Dept. of Transportation, 11201 N.McKinley Dr., Tampa, 33612 or
Let them know your concerns!

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