Posted by  Lisa Butler, Tampa Palms on 09/26  at  09:11 AM

I have experienced the mess that results from increased traffic through my neighborhood and recognize the danger it poses to the many children who play there - I vote NO on the bridge.

Posted by  Rony Francois, Tampa Palms on 09/23  at  03:16 PM

Common sense dictates that building this bridge in itself will not solve the problem at all.

The clear solution is twofold:
1. Construction of the east-west road and 2. Widening of Bruce B Downs Blvd. to three lanes in each direction from Bearss Ave. to SR56.
Either one of these two steps alone will help New Tampa traffic tremendously; implementing both together will help synergistically.

Posted by  Mark rolfe, Tampa Palms on 09/17  at  02:12 PM

NO!!!I have lived in both West Meadows and Tampa Palms. When I moved into West Meadows 7 years ago it was with a promise by the builder that a direct access to I-75 was going to happen from West meadows. I could drive to the end of the road into West Meadow and see I-75 less then 200 yards away. If the county/city made a deal with West Meadows to open West Meadows up to I-75 traffice why should Tampa Palms now have to bear the burden of the traffic load. If West Meadow needs I-75 access that short path across the back of the development is still there. You will notice that almost no one from Tampa Palms wants the road- just people whose property, kids and neighborhoods won’t be involved.

Posted by  Cindy Talwar, Tampa Palms on 09/17  at  07:17 AM

I vote NO to the bridge. We drive the area several times a day, and witness the traffic load and flow during peak and quieter periods...it is clearly already a heavily travelled roadway that must accomodate community residents, school and corporate traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians (many of them young children). I think additional traffic would not only make this a morning and evening nightmare commuting tangle-up, but more importantly make the area dangerous.  I don’t beleive this plan is well thought out, or good for our community.

Posted by  Sage Andress, Tampa Palms on 09/15  at  03:10 PM

VOTE NO!  Tampa Palms Blvd. was not designed or meant to handle higher volumes of traffic.  This bridge only serves a handfull of commercial entities and hurts the surrounding communities in the process.  For the City of Tampa to consider spending $22 million on a “bridge to nowhere” is financially irresponsible.  There are numerous other projects in the county with useless project in Dev. Agreements that have been scrapped, this needs to be one of them.

Posted by  Claudia Rhinehart, Tampa Palms on 09/14  at  08:32 AM

No bridge! Sacrificing neighborhoods to rectify poor highway and street planning as a “temporary” solution is unacceptable as well as a inappropriate use of funds that would be better used elsewhere.

Posted by  Dawn Crawford, Tampa Palms on 09/13  at  11:44 AM

The bridge is not the right answer!  The money needs to spent making BBD a better plan for all.  Dumping the traffic problems into our community is unsafe.  The extra redlights on BBD has already contributed to increased “cut through” traffic on TP blvd.  These cars are coming through at a higher rate of speed and it is unsafe for our crossing guards and our children.  Routing this additional traffic through our community will only add to the danger.  Let’s not wait for a child/pedestrian to get hit before we realize that safety in our communities should come first!

Posted by  Melody Ossi, Arbor Greene on 09/13  at  11:15 AM

Please BUILD the bridge.  The traffic on Bruce B. Downs is ridiculous and getting worse.

Posted by  Corinne Ayers, Tampa Palms on 09/13  at  10:31 AM

NO on the bridge. This will dump way too much traffic on a road that is quiet and frequented by children, pets and people exercising. It would be nearly a BBD! The worst of the congestion and growth is NOT on this side of BBD! NO, NO, NO!!!!

Posted by  Dr. Amod Sarnaik, Tampa, FL on 09/13  at  09:12 AM

This project sounds like a mini-bridge to nowhere!  While the suggestion of widening Bruce B Downs is a good one, I doubt the council has the political courage to do so.  It would undoubtably be more politically palatable to widen Morris Bridge Road and any existing roads leading to it, in order to help off-set the North Tampa traffic?  Less residential areas will be disrupted, and more importantly, less accidents on Tampa Palm Blvd resulting from inadequate outflow from the proposed bridge.

Posted by  Mary Ellen Bitner, Tampa Palms on 09/13  at  08:49 AM

I vote no!  We bought our home in Tampa Palms to be in a quiet, well planned community.  I think building a bridge to bypass Bruce B. Downs to compensate for poor prior planning by developers is unacceptable!

Mary Ellen Bitner

Posted by  Bruce Wilson, Tampa Palms on 09/13  at  06:56 AM

NO!

What happened to the City’s focus on neighborhoods?

Routing the traffic of a failed arterial highway through a neighborhood is total madness.

Forget the lame excuses that “the City needs to mitigate traffic THE CITY ITSELF ALLOWED in order to snare new communities”.

Forget a developer of a mini-professional center who has apparently successfully captured the affections of a Councilman.

The City has waited 15 years to build this bridge, the City should adhere to its support of neighborhoods and continue the wait until the City and County find a way to fix BB Downs.

Sacrificing a neighborhood for a temporary patch is mindless stupidity.

Posted by  Dr. Mitchell O'Hara, Tampa Palms on 09/12  at  06:15 PM

It seems to me that $22 million can be spent on road projects that are worthwhile in the county, maybe Bruce B. Downs?  I have to wonder if the business interests are more of a concern than the residents at this point. Why else would a overpass even be considered which really serves very little purpose?  Where are the City Council members during rush hours to look at the already congested roads in this area on Commerce Park Blvd in Tampa Palms?  What a waste of our taxpayers money, of course we in New Tampa already know we pay more than our share in property taxes and get very little for it.

Posted by  Cheryl Leydon, Tampa Palms on 09/12  at  02:54 PM

Commerce Park already has a very high accident rate.  We need no additional traffic on this neighborhood road that many children use as a bike/walk route to school.  Neighborhood interests should be placed before that of the local business.

Posted by  Harpreet Khanna, Tampa Palms Resident on 09/12  at  10:22 AM

I Vote NO on this bridge, this could be detrimental to the safety of our Tampa Palms neighborhoods with the increased traffic, DEFINITE NO!!!!

Posted by  Peter Berkman, Tampa Palms - Windsor Subdivision on 09/12  at  09:03 AM

I and my family are totally opposed to this suggestion.  Tampa Palms Blvd was designed and intended to be a semi-residential street, with access to local communities.  Itsi was not designed nor intended to provide a bypass for a massive traffic flow.  There are seveal schools which will be impacted, and many children crossing the Blvd at all times of day, especially during “rush hours”.

Posted by  Debi O'Hara, Tampa Palms on 09/12  at  09:00 AM

I vote No!  All you have to do is go down Commerence Park Blvd, in the am or afternoon and see what the traffic is like.  We have Liberty and Freedom schools and USSA business on that same road.  The traffic is already congested and driving during 7-9:30 am and 2:30-5:00pm is very dangerous.  Without the East West road this overpass serves NO purpose but to give people a short cut thru Tampa Palms.  The money should be used elsewhere, maybe widdening Bruce B. Downs which would benefit more people.  I don’t know what the City Council or transportation dept. are thinking.

Posted by  Lou Cerillo, Tampa Palms on 09/12  at  07:53 AM

I vote No!  Lets spend the money where we need it! Buy some land for another park! I would invite the powers that be to come out to New Tampa Community Park on any weeknight at 6:00pm and see the log jam of cars bringing their kids to football, soccer, baseball, softball, etc...We need another park!!

Posted by  Janet McMahan, TAmpa Palms on 09/12  at  07:34 AM

I vote NO!  What a waste of taxpayers dollars.

Posted by  Karen Claugherty, Mayfair Tampa Palms on 09/12  at  07:32 AM

No, on the Bridge in Tampa Palms!!

Posted by  Don Oneal,  on 09/11  at  11:42 AM

As an 18 year resident of Tampa Palms, we do not need this bridge. It is just a way for the developer to get more value for his property that has limited access! What we need is to have Bruce B Downs Blvd. widened in the next two years and not 5 years from now! In addition, the on again / off again east / west connector should be built as a public road to help ease our congestion in New Tampa.  We do not need any more non resident traffic being dumped into Tampa Palms!

Posted by  Various Menzel, Tampa, FL on 09/11  at  11:41 AM

Please do not use business interests over residents.

Posted by  Warren Dixon, Tampa palms on 09/11  at  05:21 AM

The city’s legal argument is a canard.  It is fundamental to contract law that two parties cannot enter into an agreement that binds or negatively affects the rights of a third party that is not a signatory to the agreement.  But that is what they are trying to do.

Tampa Palms’ development was approved around 1987, without the bridge.  West Meadows was approved in 1992, requiring connection “to the transportation network west of I-75.” Later developments further east mentioned the bridge, which by then was part of the East-West Connector.  Tampa Palms was never a signatory to any of those agreements.

The city’s argument is a faulty house of cards.

Posted by  ROBERT J. CONAWAY, TAMPA PALMS on 08/21  at  01:59 PM

Your wording on the bridge vote issues is misleading. It should read vote “Yes, another north-south road is needed in New Tampa, but not without the proposed east-west toll road.”
Or “No, I do not want to create a bridge to nowhere
and route the traffic through Tampa Palms subdivisions.

Posted by  Anneris A. Paredes-Zaglul, Tampa Palms resident on 08/11  at  10:52 PM

That bridge will not only negatively impact both Tampa Palms and West Meadows, but it needs the East-West Road. If that before mentioned road is not built, traffic will back up in a school and park area, it will also run through the middle of Tampa Palms, lowering our property values.
We need that road built to really relieve the traffic on Bruce B. Downs.
In a disaster, how will the residents of New Tampa evacuate?
Destroying our neighborhoods is not the answer.
The East-West Road is.