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Veterans misery to take a detour
By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
Contractors are clearing a path to squeeze a two-lane, half-mile ribbon of asphalt next to the northbound lanes of the Veterans to clear room for southbound drivers. If all goes well, the detour should open in two weeks, uncorking a major bottleneck. Two months later, it will all be torn out again. That's how long the Florida Department of Transportation thinks it will take to rebuild a bridge that normally carries southbound traffic but was scorched and rendered impassable Dec. 27 when a gas tanker truck caught fire. The time frame to replace the bridge is a best guess at this point, the DOT acknowledges. Engineers are assessing the the damage to its support structure. "It would be very difficult to find a place where something like this would be worse," said Mike Washburn, DOT spokesman. "That's why we're working with such great urgency to get this road available to residents." The tanker crash took place at a 90-degree bend on the exit ramp to Independence Parkway from Eisenhower Boulevard, where it passes beneath the Veterans. It created an inferno that charred the bridge, causing enough damage that it needs to be rebuilt. John Hopkins of Tampa, the driver of the truck, escaped with minor injuries and was issued a careless driving ticket. Veterans Expressway is one of the major arteries out of northwest Hillsborough into downtown Tampa and Pinellas County. On an average day, 40,000 cars use the road. That means the crash has turned much of the region into an asphalt purgatory during the morning rush hour. DOT is warning that the logjam is likely to get worse Monday when schools reopen and the last of the holiday vacationers return to work. DOT officials met over the weekend and cleared the spending of an initial $2-million in emergency money for the detour road and bridge reconstruction. They hired Cone & Graham Construction Inc. of Tampa to build the detour bypass through an expedited application process Monday and the company began work that day. Northbound Independence Parkway will remain closed while the bridge work continues. As for the temporary detour road, here are the highlights: The two-lane bypass will begin just south of Memorial Highway, snaking southbound Veterans commuters into the asphalt-fortified median. They will be channeled to the exit ramp from Eisenhower Boulevard to the northbound Veterans Expressway, which will be widened slightly. The three lanes of northbound traffic on that exit ramp will be reduced to two lanes, and drivers will be separated from people heading south by concrete barriers.
An exit ramp will provide drivers with a cut across the median south of Independence Parkway so commuters can get to the Courtney Campbell Parkway and Clearwater. Blinking construction signs will provide drivers with instructions along what is already a confusing stretch of highway even without the detour. The speed limit likely will be 45 mph. Here's another wrinkle. People who live north of Memorial Highway, south of Hillsborough Avenue and east of Eisenhower Boulevard, won't have access to the detour bypass at Memorial. Heading from there south or to Tampa International Airport? You might look for another route.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
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TAMPA -- State road officials have prescribed a surgical bypass to provide relief for northwest Hillsborough drivers suffering the effects of a fiery crash last week that knocked out part of the Veterans Expressway.
