Elevated express lanes in highway median tried in Tampa

Erecting elevated express lanes in the median of an existing toll highway appears to be one answer to easing congestion for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.

URS Greiner Woodward Clyde, a division of URS Corporation, has been selected by to plan and conceptually design reversible, elevated express lanes in the median of an existing 14-mile urban roadway—the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

Project will also serve as testing grounds for innovations in safety
The innovative expressway will be a state-of-the-art transportation facility that will also serve as a field laboratory for testing innovations in highway and vehicle safety and other technology advances.

The reversible, elevated lanes will be constructed to improve commuter service between the fast-growing suburbs along the Interstate 75 corridor in eastern Hillsborough County and the employment centers in downtown Tampa.

For much of its length, the new express facility will be on precast concrete segmental bridges above the existing four-lane expressway. In some locations, the reversible lanes will be on the same level as the general lanes, separated by standard highway barriers.

URS Greiner Woodward Clyde is responsible for completing traffic and revenue analysis, planning and feasibility studies, conceptual design, environmental impact assessment, and preliminary construction plans. In addition to the roadway and bridge design work of the project, the firm will oversee the design of all connecting ramps, extensive retaining walls, signing, lighting and exceptional aesthetic and landscaping enhancements.

Intelligent transportation system will be important element
To ensure safe and efficient operation of the reversible lanes, the firm will help create an advanced Intelligent Transportation Systems component. This element will include:

• electronic toll collection,
• custom-made automated gates and signals to prevent motorists from entering in the wrong direction,
• highly visible and readable variable message signs to alert drivers to the directional status of the reversible lanes, and
• closed circuit television for surveillance and incident detection.

The entire project from Brandon to downtown Tampa is scheduled for completion by 2004 at an estimated cost of $190 million for the reversible lanes and $60 million for the arterial feeder roads.

Edited by Joyce Jungclaus, Editor, Public Works Online