The Lee Roy Selmon Expressway is a 14-mile limited-access toll highway connecting South Tampa and the Gandy Boulevard Bridge with downtown Tampa and the suburban community of Brandon. Operated and maintained by the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority, the urban expressway currently varies from four to six lanes.
As a member of the design-build team, H&H is serving as prime designer for the capacity expansion of a 4.25-mile segment extending from west of South Himes Avenue to east of South Florida Avenue. The project will widen the expressway from four to six lanes, increasing capacity to accommodate anticipated growth while improving safety and operations.
H&H is responsible for the design of roadway, bridge, drainage, temporary traffic control, and toll infrastructure improvements. Key roadway elements include pavement design, ramp geometry, and analysis of existing infrastructure for compliance with current design criteria. The project also requires close coordination between structural design and traffic control to maintain traffic throughout construction.
Major project elements include:
- Adding a new 12-foot travel lane in each direction to expand the mainline from four to six lanes
- Improving interchange and ramp safety and operations through new turn lanes and enhanced acceleration and deceleration areas
- Widening 26 mainline bridges and replacing bridge decks
- Improving drainage systems to accommodate additional paved areas and support environmental permitting
- Upgrading sidewalks, lighting, signing, intelligent transportation systems, tolling infrastructure, signals, utilities, noise walls, and aesthetic features
- Two new toll gantries
H&H is also working closely with the contractor to identify, monitor, and mitigate project risks throughout the design process. Key challenges include an accelerated schedule and limited construction windows for certain elements of the work. Careful coordination among disciplines and with the contractor is helping the team advance the design while addressing constructability, staging, and schedule requirements. This is the first project that utilizes THEA’s Accelerated Scope Augmentation Phase (ASAP). This is an innovation phase that occurs concurrently with baseline design and focuses on operational and safety improvements; it is similar to a Progressive Design-Build.
