The new Howard Frankland Bridge is open.
The original bridge opened in 1960, when Florida was experiencing a huge population boom in the years after World War II. That led to a need for easy access between Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Rodney Kite-Powell is with the Tampa Bay History Center. He says the recent population boom the region has seen means an updated bridge makes sense.
"It's going to be accommodating all those new arrivals,” Kite-Powell said. “Those people who came here during COVID and shortly after for the opportunities that exist in Tampa and the Tampa Bay area that had already begun to take root in the late 2010s, but really, really blossomed earlier in this decade."
The new bridge is also built higher to better avoid storm surge spilling over onto the roadway, like what happened during last year's hurricane season.
The materials used at certain connection points are also stronger than the previous bridge, meaning it can take more of a beating during strong wind and storm events.
It's expected to have a 100-year service life.
And its capacity will increase by 50% when express lanes open in 2026, making it a more viable evacuation corridor.
That would make it nearly three times as big as the bridge it's replacing.
The new Howard Frankland Bridge opened early Tuesday. Three lanes of southbound traffic on I-275 closed while the Florida Department of Transportation made the transition.
David Alonso is a construction project manager. He says this should make the daily drive easier for hundreds of thousands of people.
"Everyone knows the Howard Frankland Bridge,” Alonso said. “They may not know how it's spelled, but they know about it. It's the most traveled bridge in Tampa Bay by far. It actually holds more daily commuters than all the other bridges in Tampa Bay combined."
The bridge also features a pedestrian and bicycle path for other modes of travel.
Alonso says people will feel the difference when they’re driving on the new bridge.
“I think they’ll immediately notice a difference in terms of its rideability, which is a measure of how smooth the road is, how safe it is to stop right away, and preventing accidents,” Alonso said.
And he says when the express lanes open, the difference in congestion will become clear.
“It is going to be variable tolling, which solves a very important problem, not just in this state but nationwide,” Alonso said. “It's travel time reliability, which is — if you really need to get somewhere, you have that option that you're not going to be stuck in traffic.”
There are no confirmed price rates for the express lanes yet
Alonso said the success of the bridge will be tracked in a number of ways, including efficiency in allowing vehicles to deliver goods and services, and how many accidents happen along the corridor.
But for Kite-Powell, he says the bridge will impact people for generations.
“To think that my grandkids could be driving across this bridge, and maybe someday they'll find some story about their grandfather having talked about the opening of it, I think that's kind of fun,” he said.
