Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Congresswoman Kathy Castor, D-Fl., presided over the official ground-breaking ceremony in Tampa on Friday for the Interstate 4/Selmon Expressway Connector project, which will include an elevated bypass truck lane connecting the Port of Tampa’s main access point directly with the Interstate Highway system.

The project is a planned limited-access toll road that will connect the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway to Interstate 4 in Tampa.

When completed, the highway will be able to safely filter a tremendous truck traffic flow away from Tampa’s historic Ybor City district and into and out of the Port of Tampa.

The $390 million connector project is scheduled for completion in 2013 in time for the planned completion of the Panama Canal’s third set of locks that will accommodate larger cargo ships and ensure cargo and container increases for the Port of Tampa when the expanded canal is in full operation in 2014.

Construction on the new connector project began in March and will take until summer 2013, according to the current projection.

 “We can build a world-class port and bring in cargo and containers in heavier volumes as the years go by, but without adequate traffic flow into and out of the port, it is just difficult to imagine handling much more truck traffic than the 11,000 truck moves on average we already see per day,” said Richard Wainio, Tampa’s port director and chief executive.

Source: JOC