After inspectors discovered loose steel wires earlier this week, the Selmon Extension has been deemed safe by officials, and will reopen for traffic later this evening.
The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority announced this morning that the elevated two-mile stretch over Gandy Boulevard would be reopened Thursday evening for rush hour commuters.
“Crews will remove the barrels blockading the entrances and update the variable message boards to alert drivers that the Extension is open,” said THEA in a statement.
On Sunday night, the Selmon Extension was closed out of an abundance of caution after crews with THEA discovered two steel strands that had come loose from their anchors.
“THEA’s team of engineers determined that the repair is a minor one and that it is safe for traffic to be on the structure. The Extension is designed to have maintenance and repairs done inside the roadway with live traffic overhead,” reads the statement from the agency.
The section of highway opened for traffic in April, 2021. Roughly 20,000 vehicles travel the highway daily.
This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2022.
