New Howard Frankland Bridge to open in Spring 2025 after reaching major milestone
TAMPA, Fla. - As 2024 comes to an end, major progress has been made toward the finish line for the Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay.
It’s been the biggest construction project in the area for the past four years, and drivers are watching history going up beam by beam.
"They're literally witnessing the largest bridge in all of Florida in terms of the square footage on the deck being built," said David Alonso, a construction senior project manager with the Florida Department of Transportation.
As 2024 comes to an end, major progress has been made toward the finish line for the Howard Frankland Bridge. (Courtesy: Florida Department of Transportation.)
The Howard Frankland Bridge is a major connector between Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, and FDOT is replacing the bridge, which was built in the 1960s.
After this project started in 2020, crews had their work cut out for them.
"So, the bridge starts from the bottom up. The foundation elements we have on this bridge are concrete piles," said Greg Deese, a resident engineer with FDOT Tampa. "They are driven into the ground, some of them up to 200 feet deep. That gives the bridge a firm foundation."
PREVIOUS: FDOT shares progress on years-long Howard Frankland Bridge project
Deese and Alonso said the beginning half threw a challenge.
"What we encountered here was a layer of limestone called chert that was really, really dense. And the contractor had to punch through those layers oftentimes to get deeper with their foundation for the design," said Alonso.
Alonso describes the challenges the dense limestone created for crews working on the bridge.
As 2024 comes to an end, major progress has been made toward the finish line for the Howard Frankland Bridge.
"That posed a lot of difficulties because, typically, it's not that hard to get the piles into the ground," Alonso said.
The $865 million project has come a long way, building the concrete segments with different machines.
"The conveyor brings it over here and then gets placed by that machine behind me. It's a big yellow machine called a Bidwell," Alonso said during an interview at a bridge worksite.
Alonso continued to say the Bidwell machine is used to "level basically all the work that most people do by hand if they're ever working with concrete."
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At its peak, the project had 270 craft employees. By the end of 2024, the workers expect to connect both sides of the bridge.
"We might still have some finishing touches right in the middle of the channel where the boats would be able to cross underneath. It's the higher elevation part of the bridge," said Alonso.
There will be eight lanes, four general use and four express lanes, plus a separate pedestrian and bike path. Alonso said the construction process has had a perk.
"Normally, people aren't fond of having to maneuver around an active construction site. However, (for) this project, we're building it adjacent to what the public is currently using. So, we're not really impacting the public," said Alonso.
Rendering of project to expand Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay. (Courtesy: Florida Department of Transportation.)
This new bridge will become the new I-275 southbound lanes, and the current southbound bridge built in the 1990s will turn into the new northbound lanes.
Drivers only have a few more months to wait before they can cruise across the new Howard Frankland Bridge.
"We're looking forward to opening the new bridge in the spring of 2025 and completing the project sometime in early 2026," said Deese.
That’s when the current northbound lanes on the 1960s-era bridge will be demolished, completing one of the largest engineering feats in the area.
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