Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 6-13-17

Feature
Activist Encourages Residents To Attend MPO Meeting
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Tuesday, June 13th, at 6 p.m., members of the Hills- borough Metropolitan Plan- ning Organization for Transportation (MPO) will host a public meeting. The meeting will take place at the County Center Building, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 2nd Floor.
During the meeting, MPO Board members will consider the adoption of the TIP (Transportation Improve- ment Program). The TIP is a list of transportation projects to be funded over the next five years in Hillsborough County.
Les Miller, Jr., Hills- borough County Commis- sioner, District 3, is the Chairman of the MPO Board.
Community activist Lena Young Green is asking the public to attend the meeting and voice their opinions and concerns.
“We are urging residents to attend the MPO meeting. We fully support the areas of improving bus service and replacing old vehicles; im- proving the safety of bicy- clists and walkers with new sidewalks, crosswalks, and bicycle lanes, and traffic up- grades.
“We are asking that they state opposition to TBX be- cause this is not equitable transportation, does not help those who are low-income or disabled, or those who live in areas that are impacted most by ever-growing interstates and individual modes of transportation. In fact, other
LES MILLER, JR. County Commissioner District 3
areas are removing these and incorporating innovative and modern approaches.”
Mrs. Young Green said her organization is in opposi- tion because, “It has been proven that more and more roads do not solve conges- tion problems, but burden the residents through whose neighborhoods they run and contribute to environmental conditions that affect our health.”
At this Public Hearing, the MPO Board will consider adoption of the Transporta- tion Improvement Program (TIP), a list of transportation projects in Hillsborough County to be funded over five years (October 1, 2017 - Sep- tember 30, 2022), and a list of priorities to be considered for any funding that becomes available. Details and project design will be determined by the agency implementing the project, typically in a future year.
Projects with new fund- ing this year include:
• Improving bus service and replacing old vehicles
• Repaving roadways to pre-
MRS. LENA YOUNG GREEN Community Activist
serve our system
• Improving walk/bike safety with new sidewalks, cross- walks, and bike lanes
• Traffic signal upgrades
• SR 60 widening between Valrico Rd and Dover Rd |
$10M added to FY22 for ROW, construction beyond FY22 (FDOT)
• I-75 at Gibsonton Dr. east- bound turn lane to north- bound on-ramp | $694K for design – FY22 (FDOT)
• I-75 at Big Bend Rd extend southbound off-ramp lanes | $3M for construction – FY21 (FDOT)
• Tampa Bypass Canal Trail | $750K for Project Develop- ment & Environment Study – FY18 (Hillsborough County)
• Green Spine Cycle Track ex- tension from Doyle Carlton Dr. to Willow Ave | $544K for construction – FY20 (City of Tampa) Tampa Bay Ex- press (TBX) express toll lanes on I-275 and I-4 (visit
tampabaynext.com) project funding has been revised to include only:
• I-275 Howard Frankland Bridge Replacement 8 free lanes total plus express toll lanes | $25M for design- build in Hillsborough – FY20 (FDOT)
• I-275, Lois to Willow Ave (Segment 5) express toll lanes | $101M for design- build – FY22 (FDOT)
• All Other TBX Segments: Environmental Impact Stud- ies underway | No construc- tion funded thru FY22 | New funding for ROW from will- ing sellers at SR 60 inter- change.
There are also several fu- ture priority projects that will be discussed at the meeting.
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3