Tampa officials are making changes to Ybor City that they hope will help slow traffic after a driver killed 4 in the area in November.
Officials presented changes to the Tampa City Council last week for the pedestrian-heavy entertainment district.
City officials plan to reduce the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph on 7th Avenue, install traffic barriers, and introduce additional street parking and bus stop lanes to narrow the street approaching Ybor.
They will also continue converting 7th Avenue to bricks.
The ideas were sparked after a community town hall on safety in Ybor.
Council member Lynn Hurtak suggested dropping the speed limit even more, from 30 to 20 miles per hour.
“Ybor just has so many pedestrians that I think we should normalize going slow. I mean, the bricks help, but I think if we really normalize it in that neighborhood, spreading it out through the rest of the residential area would be easier,” Hurtak said.
Adam Purcell is Tampa’s Transportation Services Director.
“We need to slow traffic and we need to stop their ability from accessing the pedestrian space along the roadway,” Purcell said.
The bus stop and street parking are set to come in the next couple of weeks.
The changes come after a driver fleeing law enforcement crashed into the nightclub Bradley’s on 7th in November and killed four.
This article appears in Feb. 19 – 25, 2026.