Invest: Tampa Bay

Page 89

TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS INTERVIEW

What’s Next? Transportation initiative is focused on ways to improve transit and intersections to make target areas safer without significant expansion

David Gwynn District Seven Secretary Florida Department of Transportation What is the biggest initiative for Florida Department of Transportation in District 7? We have been working on a program called Tampa Bay Next. Over the last two and a half years, we have had hundreds of public meetings with big and small interest groups, elected officials and general members of the public, which we used to gather some great input. A key issue that we identified was transportation. Although we recognize that our interstate needs some work, there are other areas, like the downtown interchange, where infrastructural improvement would have a pretty massive impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. As a result, we are focusing on ways we can improve transit and intersections in those areas to help make them safer, while also not requiring a significant expansion of the highway footprint. How are you working to mitigate the traffic issues in the region? We have come to the conclusion that simply widening and continuing to build more roads is not going to completely mitigate this issue. We have shifted our efforts to also look at multimodal solutions, like the streetcar system in downtown Tampa. Until last year, it was underutilized, but we recognized that this could be a good part of a transit system. The question was how to make it more attractive for people to start riding it. What we found was because there was not a lot of local money to fund it, it was only running from 11 in the morning until 8 at night. We were able to get a grant to allow the streetcar to run from 7 in the morning until 11 at night and on a more frequent basis. The ridership has since tripled, and that is important because we now have a strong case for the federal government to invest in expanding that streetcar system further out into Tampa Heights. If we can get federal funding, they will put 50% of the cost in, the locals put in 25%, and then our department covers the last 25%.

What is the outlook for the transportation sector in Tampa Bay for the next year? The passage of the sales tax in Hillsborough County was a big step forward because the local money allows us to do things with state and federal matching money. We will start to see an increased frequency of buses, better stations and more opportunities to expand the systems. On the highway side, we continue to build road and safety improvements. Four hundred of our signalized intersections that had the highest number of crashes are in the process of putting in new LED lighting that will illuminate these intersections at night much better than they have been. We are going to start the Howard Frankland Bridge project, and the Gateway Expressway will probably be completed in another two years. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Interview: Brian Kornfeld

6min
pages 153-155

Interview: Roger Germann

7min
pages 150-152

Roundtable: Tampa Bay Sports

7min
pages 156-160

Market voices: Destinations

4min
pages 148-149

Interview: Tim Jarrett, General

5min
pages 146-147

Interview: Santiago Corrada

2min
page 145

Where to? Tourism in Tampa

2min
page 144

Interview: Robert Bishop, Dean

7min
pages 140-143

Interview: Steven Currall

10min
pages 135-138

Rise up: Tampa Bay’s

2min
page 134

Interview: Randy Avent

3min
page 139

Roundtable: Care concerns

12min
pages 128-133

Interview: Phillip Dingle

6min
pages 126-127

Interview: John Couris, CEO

6min
pages 121-123

Interview: Mike Schultz

4min
pages 124-125

Hub attraction: Tampa Bay has

2min
page 120

Interview: David Call, Florida

3min
pages 117-119

Market voices: Good advice

2min
page 116

Roundtable: Key attractions

15min
pages 110-115

Interview: Tim Schar, Tampa

5min
pages 107-108

Interview: Rita Lowman

2min
page 109

Interview: Jorge Gonzalez

7min
pages 102-105

Interview: Jim Daly, Regional

2min
page 106

Interview: Gregory Kadet

7min
pages 99-101

Bankable: A tax-friendly

1min
page 98

Interview: Beth Alden

2min
page 94

Interview: David Green

7min
pages 95-97

Interview: Paul Anderson, CEO

2min
page 93

Interview: Joe Waggoner, CEO

9min
pages 90-92

Hard at work: The region is

2min
page 88

Interview: David Gwynn

2min
page 89

Interview: Catherine Stempien

6min
pages 84-87

Interview: Nancy Tower

2min
page 82

Interview: Gary Godsey

4min
pages 71-73

Interview: Todd Fultz, Managing

11min
pages 76-79

Interview: T.J. Szelistowski

2min
page 83

Demanding times: Tampa Bay

2min
page 81

Strong fundamentals: As cranes

5min
pages 74-75

Interview: Mark Metheny

3min
page 70

Market voices: Growth factors

1min
page 80

Roundtable: Commercial Real Estate

5min
pages 68-69

Interview: Alan Higbee

5min
pages 55-56

Interview: Nicholas Haines

7min
pages 65-67

Building value: The temperature

2min
page 60

Interview: Leroy Moore, COO

5min
pages 61-62

Market voices: Transformation

5min
pages 63-64

Market voices: Advantages

4min
pages 57-59

Interview: Bill Schifino, Tampa

3min
page 54

Interview: Douglas Wright

5min
pages 51-52

Interview: Hala Sandridge

3min
page 53

Evolution: The legal landscape

2min
page 50

Flourishing: The city of

1min
page 36

Market voices: Developing Clearwater

11min
pages 40-44

Interview: Scott Perry, CEO

9min
pages 45-49

Interview: Frank Hibbard

6min
pages 37-39

Roundtable: Female leaders in the Bay

5min
pages 32-35

Interview: Sandra Murman

2min
page 13

Market voices: St. Petersburg

1min
page 26

Interview: Kenneth Welch

13min
pages 27-31

Interview: John Flanagan, CEO

2min
page 25

Powerhouse: Looming concerns

1min
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Interview: Lynda Remund

3min
pages 18-19

Roundtable: What is needed to sustain growth?

12min
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Interview: Craig Richard

9min
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