St. Pete awarded $1.3 million for design plans to reconnect South St. Pete to downtown
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The city of St. Petersburg was awarded $1.3 million in federal funding for design plans aimed at reconnecting South St. Pete to downtown.
"We know we'll have some new safer crossings for pedestrians to get across the street. We will have bicycle accommodation somewhere," said the city of St. Petersburg Transportation & Parking Management Director Evan Mory.
Plans to reconnect South St. Pete to Downtown are currently being worked on.
Exact design details are still in the works, but they’re all aimed at trying to make getting around I-175 easier.
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Construction of that interstate in the 1970s caused a lot of division after it was built right through the Gas Plant District, physically separating downtown from St. Pete’s historic African American community, as well as other neighborhoods.
Over the years, there have been conversations about how to reconnect the two.
At one point, the city and the Florida Department of Transportation considered whether it would be practical to remove or shorten I-175.
Now, thanks to this federal money, preliminary design ideas could include making MLK and 8th Streets two-way instead of one-way.
"One-way streets are not friendly to get across. They're not friendly for businesses because the cars tend to fly by.," Mory said. "Also, it makes for people to have to drive longer routes. It makes for confusion for our visitors."
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This project stems from a mobility study that a transportation planning agency, Forward Pinellas, helped fund back in 2022.
Proposals to make MLK and 8th Streets two-way instead of one-way.
"When the interstates were developed, there really wasn't a whole lot of thought given to the impacts on the people that were directly adjacent to downtown," Forward Pinellas MPO Division Manager Chelsea Favero said.
Designs will be worked on and reworked, and there will be community meetings for discussion.
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The city told FOX 13 it will then need to identify additional money to be spent on actual construction.
While it will likely be five to seven years before actual construction starts, officials describe this as a step in the right direction.
"Not just wall off our neighborhoods from the downtown area but to actually help get those residents into the downtown area to access the services and also the shops and the entertainment," Favero said. "That's something that is a fantastic benefit for the community."
The city received the money as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program.
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