TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority is preparing to launch its largest project since the Selmon West Extension, a $362 million expansion that will reshape the South Selmon Expressway and add new community features along the way.
Gregory Slater, CEO and executive director of THEA, said the agency’s board of directors approved the South Selmon Capacity project this week as the first major step in a $752 million work program. Of that total, nearly $692 million is dedicated to construction. The cost for the South Selmon Capacity Project will be funded through the THEA toll revenue.
“This is the first one that’s coming,” Slater said. “So $362 million to reconstruct the Selmon Expressway from the Hillsborough River Bridge all the way down to Gandy Boulevard. What we’re going to do is add another lane in each direction, reconstruct 26 different bridge structures, and rebuild the Hillsborough bridge, that big bridge right by the convention center.”
WATCH: South Selmon Capacity project to bring more lanes, safer merges and dog park
Slater said THEA is aiming to create a signature downtown gateway.
“I said we’re sick of watching Monday Night Football and seeing the Skyway Bridge. Give us something in downtown Tampa that we can really focus on. So we’re looking at a variety of concepts there, and we’ll start to see something take shape.”
The project encompasses not only highway upgrades but also community and safety improvements.
“From the community perspective, we’re going to redo all the underpasses to provide safer pedestrian infrastructure, add some pedestrian lighting, some aesthetic wall features, those types of things,” Slater said. “We’re going to add noise walls around all those residential areas through South Tampa, and then we’re going to create areas of longer transition.”
He said merge lanes on the Selmon are shorter than today’s standards, and the reconstruction will give drivers more time to accelerate or exit safely.
Slater said drivers will not see construction for another eight or nine months, as the design phase still needs to be completed. Once crews begin, the work is expected to last about four years.
The expansion is designed to keep pace with Tampa Bay’s growth.
“We’re about 19 to 20% over where we thought we were going to be when we were projecting traffic pre-COVID,” Slater said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth in this region. We’re seeing growth in traffic, not only in the peaks, but we’re seeing growth in the middle of the day. We’re seeing South Tampa coming into downtown at night start to back up. That’s not a challenge that we had five, six years ago.”
While decorative lighting already exists on the Selmon West Extension, Slater said the South Selmon has none today. That will change with the reconstruction.
“This will be a lot of construction, but it’s investment,” he said. “Right on the heels of this one, we’ll start to do our Whiting Street project. That’ll take out the ramp 6A by [the] arena and then put a new ramp over where Whiting Street dead ends today. That project will accommodate 100% of game day and event traffic that’s coming into downtown in the evening.”
One of the more unique features will be what goes beneath the highway. Slater said THEA is working with neighbors to create recreational spaces under the wide Bay-to-Bay/MacDill underpass.
“We’ve been working with the community to add another community feature there. So we’re going to have a large and a small dog park there. We’re going to have potentially some pickleball courts. We’re going to have some open air recreational areas,” Slater said. “Three or four years from now, we want to go back out to the community, talk to them about that community space and exactly what they want to see.”
He added that the dog park is a “given,” but other amenities may be shaped by future feedback.
John Long, who drives the Selmon a few times a week, said he does not always hit congestion but sees the safety upgrades as valuable.
“Anything that will keep people safe, that may slow down some of the draft — I’m a fast driver sometimes myself — but anything that slows us down and makes us aware of hazard or makes the freeway safer, I think it’s a good thing,” Long said.
He said he prefers the Selmon compared with other major roads.
“Probably the Selmon is probably better. I mean, 275 gets backed up. 75 gets backed up mornings, midday, evenings. Probably because, you know, the Selmon is a toll road, limited number of people who are on it, so it’s usually a little bit better,” Long said.
Asked about residents’ preference for using the Selmon, even as some wish more focus were placed on Interstate 275, Slater said the feedback underscores the importance of what THEA does.
“We’re asking our customers to pay a toll. So when you pay a toll, you don’t want to pay a toll and sit in traffic. You want to pay a toll and have free flowing traffic, but you also want to have a pleasant experience,” he said. “We want you to get on our roadway, and when you do, we want it to feel a little bit different.”
Slater said THEA aims for a “higher standard of cleanliness, a higher standard of maintenance, a higher standard of trip, a higher standard of travel,” to make sure customers see value in their tolls.
Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2026. It is expected to be finished in about four to four and a half years, Slater said, with the result being a smoother drive, a signature gateway bridge, and new neighborhood spaces.
“We’re just excited about the project,” he said. “It’ll be a big one for us.”
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