FDOT worked with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to identify the preferred alternative for improving our interstate system.
NEPA requires agencies that receive Federal funding assistance to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for major actions that significantly affect the quality of the human environment. An EIS is a full disclosure document that details the process through which a transportation project is developed. It includes consideration of a range of reasonable alternatives, analyzes the potential impacts resulting from the alternatives, and demonstrates compliance with other applicable environmental laws and executive orders. The study was a supplement to the 1996 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and the Records of Decision (ROD) that FHWA issued in 1997 and 1999. The EIS process is the most rigorous evaluation we can do in transportation planning. The SEIS focused on the Downtown Tampa and Westshore Area interchanges and the section of I-275 between those areas and is part of a long-standing plan to improve and modernize Tampa’s interstate system, originally called the Tampa Interstate Study (TIS). Click here to see the history of the TIS and access historical documents related to the original Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The analysis for the SEIS uses the most current demographic, economic, and transportation data and design plans to evaluate environmental and social impacts to communities, including impacts such as noise, air quality, socioeconomic and environmental justice issues. The SEIS includes an alternatives analysis and mitigation strategy development where impacts are unavoidable.
Throughout the process FDOT remained committed to open and transparent dialogue with the community throughout the SEIS. For more information or to view the documents click here.
The study has been completed was approved by FHWA in 2020.
