A pile driver used on the I-275 expansion that is so loud it’s shaking the neighborhood. Credit: Justin Garcia

At Hillsborough’s Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) Board Meeting today, several community members showed up with concerns about the ongoing I-275 expansion, and called for a moratorium on the construction project.

Hillsborough’s Commissioners and a Tampa City Council person also voiced concerns about the project, which is currently underway with pile-driving construction so loud in Tampa Heights that it’s shaking people’s houses.

“There’s already some issues that we’ve experienced from the highway. The dust and air pollution from the highway already quite literally stain our house,” said Nicole Perry, a Tampa Heights resident. “We worry about our children breathing the air outside while they play. We also worry about the impacts of further expansion in the long term as well as the short term from construction, and what that’s going to do for our family.”

Dayna Lazarus lives in North Ybor and pointed out that the county has already acknowledged racial impacts of I-275 construction.

“Two summers ago, you passed an equity resolution that explicitly named the racist impact of I-275,” Lazarus said. “Then you proceeded to have myself and others write and participate in an equity planning process, which resulted in recommendations, which you unanimously adopted.”

Lazarus asked the county commissioners present at the meeting to declare a moratorium on this current construction so the community can, “have a proper public engagement process and really consider what we’re spending our tax money on for transportation.” During the meeting, after other community members spoke against the expansion, seven people yielded their time to Rick Fernandez. Fernandez has been one of the most vocal opponents of the construction, and he presented a full blown presentation highlighting the problems with the project.

Fernandez used Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) own powerpoint slides to support his claim that FDOT had not properly communicated the I-275 construction to the community, especially the interstate wall expansion and the right of way impacts that would be felt in the city.

A collection of slides from FDOT shared during today’s meeting. Credit: FDOT/Screenshot

“We’re talking about no right of way impacts are anticipated in Tampa heights,” Fernandez said, referencing FDOT’s slide. “They kept saying that over and over again. And they kept putting it to us in writing in their PowerPoint slides.” He pointed out what he said were several other acts of non-transparency by FDOT, calling them “inconvenient truths” many of which were highlighted by the FDOT’s own documents and actions from past meetings.

“When we next talk about demolishing walls, let it be in furthering a project like Boulevard Tampa that actually sees the future,” said Fernandez about the proposed I-barrier wall expansion. “I may not live to see Boulevard Tampa. But we can begin that journey together. And now our future is in your hands.”

Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp said that a community meeting should be held to help rectify some of the problems with the project.

“It’s important, I think, to the community,” Kemp said. “We need to have a conversation about where the wall is going in and what can be done.”
FDOT Secretary for District 7 David Gwynn said that there may have been communication issues between FDOT and the community.
“We thought we were clear. Could we have been clearer? Perhaps. But we will continue to try,” Gwynn said. “But I can honestly tell you that I have never come here and I’ve never witnessed my staff come here to lie or to misrepresent anything for any purpose.”

Gwynn, multiple times, admitted that the FDOT could have been clearer in its communication with the community, but also stated that the organization had made several efforts to explain the project.

“I understand how confusing sometimes our projects can be and I understand sometimes we speak a language that other folks don’t necessarily understand the same as we understand it,” Gwynn said. “I truly believed it when we were saying and our folks were saying that we were not going to have any additional impacts. We were not going to expand the right of way. We were not going to have any right of way impacts. That was what it meant that we were not going to require any more right of way. I’m sorry that some folks didn’t understand and I am sympathetic that they didn’t.”
But opponents and local officials said that the problem isn’t that FDOT speaks a different language, it’s that FDOT didn’t communicate the interstate expansion properly.

Commissioner Kimberly Overman also called for community meeting, saying that she and the community need clarity before the project moves forward. She said that it was “clearly unclear” for the commissioners and everyone else what the impacts of the construction project would be.

“What we’ve heard this morning, is what we’ve heard has been different than what the community has heard, in some cases,” Overman said. “I don’t think it was obvious that the [barrier] wall would move. I think we need transparency all around, you know, to rebuild the trust.”
FDOT’s communication director said that has conducted significant engagement within the local community using traditional and non-traditional methods, including a direct mailing list that includes over 9.000 people and a constant contact email list including 4,500 people.

FDOT claimed that they’ve held 125 presentations regarding the I-275 expansion and 52 community events, as well as two workshops and one public hearing. FDOT says that they’ve modified their original plan based on community input, and that their graphics have always highlighted the widening of I-275. A slide from 2019 was shared that points to existing noise barriers of I-275 being relocated.

A slide sent to CL by FDOT with context about noise barriers. Credit: FDOT

After the calls for the community meeting, Commissioner Kemp said that what’s more immediate is the nighttime construction on the interstate to expand the interstate wall, and that the night work will only further disturb residents in the area. Gwynn said there are certain forms of construction.

Jessica Vaughn, Hillsborough School Board Member for District 3, asked if the TPO could hold a vote could be held to put a moratorium on the construction, but the TPO’s attorney pointed out that because TPO is planning organization this is not within its power.

City Councilman Guido Maniscalco came to the meeting to say that Tampa is still dealing with the problems borne by the original interstate construction in the 1950s.

“I think what people are asking from you is, ‘please don’t hurt us anymore’,” he said. “I too would stand with them and say try to preserve what’s left.”