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Reconnecting St. Pete
Evan Axelbank reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The City of St. Pete is not only making big changes to the area around Tropicana Field, it is trying to change the way people get to that area in anticipation of the biggest public project in city history.
The mayor doesn't want the city to build a new ballpark and Gas Plant District without seeing it connected to the area it was purposely cut off from in the 1980s in South St. Pete.
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"That's the visual that I see, that interstate barrier," Mayor Ken Welch said. "I think you can see how that completely separated a community."
St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch speaks at a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 31, about the Gas Plant District.
I-175 is surrounded by numerous one-way streets that make it even more difficult to get around seamlessly.
That has to change, city leaders say, for the Gas Plant project to truly benefit everyone.
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"High speeds and limited access points will be reimagined, ensuring the safety of all community members," said councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders. "We will create pathways that are not just functional but embrace inclusivity."
They are applying for a $1.2 million grant to plan the redesign of several streets around I-175.
The city wants 8th Street and Martin Luther King Street to be converted to two-way travel, to have slower speeds, easier turn lanes and to be more walkable.
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The 18-month planning phase, they hope, will be funded by the Infrastructure Law championed by the Biden Administration.
"What obviously needs to happen is building greater cohesiveness across this community," said Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa). "When you do that, you can provide more housing that is attainable and affordable. You can create the walkable community that so many of our neighbors are crying out for."
The grant is considered a very competitive one, but because of its focus on making changes to projects built at a time when projects often served to marginalize Black communities, officials argue it has a good chance of being secured.
"By reconnecting neighborhoods that were divided by the interstate to downtown and other areas of the city, the project will benefit those separated neighborhoods," said Welch.
The hope is to find out by the end of this year whether they have received the grant, and to see actual changes to the roadway start to take place within several years.