Northbound Howard Frankland Bridge will close overnight for overhead sign installation
Howard Frankland Bridge on track to finish in 2025
Florida transportation officials said the two hurricanes that threatened the bay sidelined the Howard Frankland Bridge project, but the timeline to finish it remains the same. The new bridge will carry southbound traffic and will even have pedestrian paths.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The ongoing Howard Frankland Bridge project will once again cause an overnight closure – this time in the northbound direction.
From 11 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday, drivers heading north on Interstate 275 will be detoured onto Gandy Boulevard. This is to allow construction crews to install two overhead sign structures on the bridge.
An aerial view from FDOT of the Howard Frankland Bridge construction in January 2023.
According to the Florida Department of Transportation, motorists should add 30 minutes of travel time to their commute.
The $595 million Gateway Expressway Project started in September 2017. It will connect U.S. 19 and the Bayside Bridge with I-275. An optional 80-cent toll lane will allow commuters to drive from the Bayside Bridge to I-275 with no traffic lights.
MORE: Transportation officials making progress on new Howard Frankland Bridge
I-275 will be widened to add a toll lane in each direction along the median next to the existing lanes from south of Gandy Boulevard to 4th Street North.
The new expressway should reduce commuter traffic on other roads like Ulmerton Road and Roosevelt Boulevard. Engineers said the Gateway Expressway is unique because of all the roads it touches.
More than 250 people are working day and night, six to seven days a week to build the expressway. The Gateway is scheduled to open in the summer of 2023.