Howard Frankland Bridge express lanes, pedestrian path set to open as major expansion nears completion

TAMPA, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation expects to open the long-awaited express lanes and a shared-use path on the Howard Frankland Bridge this week.

The FDOT says the pedestrian path will open on Wednesday. The express lanes on the bridge could also open as early as Wednesday.

The project aims to relieve ongoing traffic congestion across the bridge, as the regional population continues to grow.

The backstory:

The Howard Frankland Bridge Expansion project has been a years-long project to improve connectivity around the Bay Area and alleviate traffic.

Last year, the new southbound bridge opened. The old southbound bridge was demolished.

What we know:

The FDOT is adding two express lanes in both directions across the Howard Frankland Bridge. The lanes are expected to open this week.

"Prior to opening the express lanes, we have a lot of final striping to be completed, as well as delineators, which are like, the flexible tubes that separate the express lanes from the general purpose lanes," FDOT resident engineer Austin Peterson said.

The lanes will open toll-free while engineers work to implement toll technology. Eventually, the toll for the express lanes will be a fixed rate of 50 cents.

The bridge will have four general-use lanes and two express lanes on each side.

A nearly seven-mile shared-use path will open on Wednesday, rain or shine.

Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to cross the bridge from Tampa near Cypress Point Park, to 4th Street North in St. Petersburg. The path features shaded sections and four outlook spots.

What they're saying:

"Currently, we are at four lanes across the bridge in either direction, but increasing with the express lanes will be two express lanes in both directions, east and west across the bridge, northbound and southbound on I-275," Peterson said. "But that's going to be obviously adding a great amount to our capacity that we can push through the bridge."

Peterson says the entire bridge expansion project will help move future connectivity projects forward.

"We do have, in the future, plans for connectivity on the east end of the bridge to additional express lanes, as well as additional shared use paths, path networks that we're going to be constructing on the west and east ends of the bridge," Peterson said.

What we don't know:

The FDOT hasn't announced when the toll-free period will end or when the 50-cent toll rate will officially take effect.

Additionally, because the final work on the express lanes is weather dependent, rain could delay the opening of the express lanes later in the week.