Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 9-25-20

Feature
City’s BUILD Project Will Include Downtown, West Tampa
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
On Thursday (Sept. 10th), U. S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) announced that nearly $50M in the Department of Transporta- tion’s Better Utilizing Invest- ment to Lever-age Development (BUILD) grants, previously TIGER grants, would be coming to the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County.
On Monday, Sept. 21, 2020,
Congresswoman Castor and Tampa Mayor Jane Cas- tor held a press conference to discuss how the dollars will be used. Much of the City’s Grant Funds will be geared towards downtown and West Tampa.
In a few days, the Tampa Housing Authority will have the grand opening of its Renais- sance at West River Apartment Complex, which will tie in with the upcoming BUILD develop-
ments.
The $24M City of Tampa
BUILD grant will be used to connect downtown Tampa Riverwalk, the University of Tampa, West Tampa, Bayshore, Hyde Park and Ybor City, up to Columbus Dr. and tie-in to Tampa Heights, with multi- modal paths, complete streets and under bridge/over water
segments, site work, new pave- ment, guard rails, lighting, landscaping, and seawall repair.
According to the Mayor’s of- fice, “this connectivity will pro- vide better access to jobs and cultural events in urban core inner city areas. The bike-walk pathway will also foster active transportation without requir- ing personal cars.”
The project will also con- nect to the Green Spine along Cass St. and Selmon Trail.
The Mayor’s office was asked about any of the funding being using for inner city streets, sidewalks, lighting, or lot maintenance.
“The project will provide en- hanced lighting along the route. Rome Ave. will be redesigned to facilitate multi-modal connec- tivity from Platt St. to Colum- bus.”
As for lighting, a plan is cur- rently in place to expand street- lights in West Tampa as part of the Bright Lights Safe Nights program.
Since the project is just coming to Tampa, no bids have been issued. This will take place next year after agreements have been signed with USDOT and funding becomes available.
“We will have clear minority business and related targets and these will be monitored by the MBDO office. We are com- mitted to ensuring that local minority and women-owned businesses participate in major City initiatives,” Ashley Bau- man, the City’s Marketing and
Communications Director, stated.
Hillsborough County To Get $25 Million
The $25M Hillsborough County BUILD grant will be used to widen and reconstruct the existing interchange at Big Bend Road and I-75, including additional bicycle lanes and multiuse paths and a round- about at the intersection of Old Big Bend Road and Bullfrog Creek Road.
“The BUILD grant for Hills- borough County is critical as our population grows and ad- dressing the infrastructure needs of our community to en- sure our region’s economic competitiveness while improv- ing mobility,” Hillsborough County Commission Chair Les Miller, said when the initial announcement was made.
Hillsborough County and City of Tampa were the only award recipients in Florida to receive a com- petitive BUILD grant.
Riverwalk
PAGE 2-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020