Tampa ramps up road repaving spending to $41M, aims to break its 2025 record

Tampa provides update on road paving progress

Tampa is planning to pave more than 76 lane miles to top what it did last year. FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia reports.

TAMPA, Fla. -  The city of Tampa continues to repave streets, hoping to top last year's record of 76 lane miles.

The backstory:

During a press conference Monday in the Temple Crest neighborhood, Mayor Jane Castor and the mobility department said a second, new paving machine and the hiring of their own construction crews has allowed the city to double its paving capacity over the last year.

"I know that your roads are, in many instances, not in great condition. And I have asked for patience in the past, and I ask for that again," Castor said. "We are out there working every day. These guys are getting it done much faster and much cheaper by doing it in-house. So, very proud of them."

The city measures progress by lane miles. Think of a lane mile as one mile of a single traffic lane. Therefore, a one-mile road with two lanes would equal two lane miles.

By the numbers:

Mobility officials told FOX 13 they estimate there are roughly 2,500 city lane miles in Tampa.

 In 2025, the city paved a record 76 lane miles.

"Our average, historically, has been about 40 miles. So, as you can see, we're almost doubling that, which is wonderful," Castor said.

So far this year, the city has resurfaced 14 lane miles. Crews are currently working on an additional five lane miles in the Temple Crest neighborhood.

Dig deeper:

To pay for all this, Castor said Monday that more general funding was put towards paving, thanks to the collaboration of city council.

"We're now spending over $40 million on paving," Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin said. "When I first came into office just a little over three years ago, we were only spending $5 million. That's the tremendous work that's done between the administration and city council in improving the streets of the city of Tampa."

Which streets get paved first?

As for how the city decides which streets to pave next, Tampa Mobility Director Brandon Campbell explained that the city uses a "Pavement Condition Index" to prioritize the work. It is a qualitative set of criteria that grades every street in the city.

"We start with the worst and work our way up," Campbell said. "And we still have a long way to go."

The other side:

While residents are thrilled to finally get fresh asphalt, one Temple Crest resident asked Castor during the press conference for a better communication plan, noting that, in some cases, neighbors arrived home to find their streets blocked without any prior warning.

Castor and Campbell acknowledged that they could look into utilizing the city's mobile alert system, Alert Tampa, to warn specific neighborhoods before heavy machinery moves in.

"That's an issue that we really have struggled with," Castor said. "Because we talk about these projects, and we get with the neighbors — I'm not talking about just repaving, but stormwater projects and complete street projects, those types of things — and then it takes so long in the planning process. So, we've talked to the neighbors and understand what they want. And then sometimes, there's a two-year gap, and then the neighbors are like, ‘What's going on?’ So, we've really made great strides in having consistent communication with the neighbors."