FPIDs: 445057-1, 445056-1, 445056-2
Downtown Tampa Interchange
Project Status
Safety and Operational Improvements
Construction Cost: $227.5 million
Construction Completion Anticipated: Early 2027
Tampa’s downtown and surrounding urban core is rich with cultural and historical resources. The Downtown Interchange and corridors of I-275, I-4 and the Selmon Expressway are key links in Florida’s interstate system for both freight and passenger mobility. While they serve as important commuter routes to suburban and urban communities in the Tampa Bay region providing access to jobs, medical facilities, universities and cultural resources, the Downtown Interchange is a known chokepoint.
Tampa Bay Next will provide multimodal transportation choices to:
- Efficiently move people and goods with connectivity throughout the region
- Enhance travel operations to key destinations and reduce bottlenecks
- Connect neighborhoods with greenway and trail connections
Current Improvements
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The current improvements will enhance the safety and operations for drivers within the interchange and along I-275 and I-4. The project will also construct connections to the existing trail network, enhance underpasses, add landscaping and create three community spaces with amenities like dog parks, benches, pickleball courts and trees. Additional improvements include:
Southbound I-275 to Eastbound I-4
- Providing a two-lane exit and constructing a new exit ramp bridge (to the inside of the interchange) from southbound I-275 to eastbound I-4
- Changing the eastbound exit ramp from I-4 into Ybor City/East Tampa by relocating access at 14th/15th Streets instead of 21st/ 22nd Streets
- Widening the existing eastbound I-4 frontage road (13th Avenue) to two lanes
Westbound I-4 to Northbound I-275
- Widening the existing single lane ramp from westbound I-4 to northbound I-275 to two lanes
- Adding an additional merge lane on northbound I-275 between I-4 and the Martin Luther King Jr. exit
Westbound I-4 to Southbound I-275
- Widening the existing two-lane ramp from westbound I-4 to southbound I-275 to three lanes
- Widening the shoulders on southbound I-275 between Palm Avenue and Jefferson Street
- Shifting the exit ramp from southbound I-275 into downtown Tampa to the west of the current alignment
Construction Progress, February 2025
Construction Progress, February 2025
Construction Progress, March 2025
The Downtown Tampa Interchange, Tampa’s Westshore Interchange, and the Westshore to Downtown Tampa Corridor projects are all part of a long-standing plan to improve and modernize Tampa’s interstate system, originally called the Tampa Interstate Study (TIS). The TIS required the most rigorous evaluation process in transportation planning – an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). FDOT engaged the community to receive input on alternative design concepts for the SEIS and held public workshops in October 2017 and May 2019 to review the concepts and get community input. A public hearing was held in February 2020, and FHWA approved the SEIS in September 2020.
Operational Improvements
To view the latest safety and operational improvements for the Downtown Tampa Interchange, click here.
SEIS
For more information on the SEIS, click here.