Tampa Bay Beltway shortsighted

Public officials in the Tampa Bay area, much like those in Orlando before them are convinced that the traffic woes of their area can be solved by building an expressway beltway which ties together disparate communities through underdeveloped and rural areas. This idea of traffic control relief is foolhardy to say the least.

In Orlando which serves as a test case thanks to the building of the Greenway (SR 417/SR 429), traffic congestion has actually increased since the completion of a toll road that is far flung from the city centre and does little to relieve the morning and evening rush hour drives.

The proposed four county highway circling the Tampa Bay area may help the traffic flow in the Brandon/Plant City area slightly but it does nothing to connect suburban areas to the central areas of Tampa, St Petersburg or Clearwater. Moreover, like the area in which the Greenway was built over a decade ago much of the region the road would traverse is currently undeveloped. Perhaps the elected officials of the Tampa Bay area are just interested in stimulating development? If this is so, they should just come clean and sell the road for what it is, not as a solution for traffic relief.