ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A new group in Pinellas County is advocating for the removal of Interstate 175 in St. Petersburg.
“Try to walk from here to 1st,” Josette Green explained. “Look up on the foot bridge and look down on that expressway, and see the division it has created in our city.”
With planning underway for the Historic Gas Plant District Redevelopment, Green said now is the time to advocate for change.
“If there’s ever a time for voices to be heard, it’s now,” she described.
So, she wants I-175 demolished, but is that even a possibility?
Forward Pinellas Executive Director Whit Blanton said Green actually isn’t alone in taking issue with the interstate.
“The City of St. Petersburg and the surrounding neighborhoods came to us and said, ‘This is a real barrier to economic opportunity,'” he explained.
Blanton showed 8 On Your Side a study that concluded back in 2022.
It examined various routes throughout St. Petersburg, including I-175.
Blanton said the Florida Department of Transportation has since allocated $800,000 to a new engineering analysis.
“It’s called an action plan, and it’s something FDOT is scoping currently,” Blanton explained. “It will look at the traffic, emergency response.”
As of this report, there were three options Forward Pinellas was considering.
“One is keeping it as is, because we may determine that’s the best configuration,” Blanton said. “Another one is a bridge or viaduct; you would open up the space underneath for street connections, for walking, bicycling.”
The last option would be demolishing it, and creating a boulevard. But would that be able to handle the level of traffic in St. Petersburg?
“It would,” Blanton said. “That’s what our Downtown Mobility Study determined. It would handle the traffic because the road has much more capacity than traffic today, and we don’t project that to change 25 years in the future.”
Green hopes to see I-175 come down, and that boulevard become a reality.
“It could be a beautiful boulevard with grass and trees and carry not only cars but carry bikes and baby strollers and pedestrians,” she explained.
While Blanton said the 2022 study concluded a boulevard would be able to handle the traffic, there are a few other things that would have to happen.
“If we don’t covert 3rd and 4th into two-way streets, and we don’t recreate the street grid north and south through the Tropicana site, then the boulevard doesn’t work.
He plans to begin the new action plan analysis this fall and expects a final recommendation by 2026.
If the city, county, state, and federal governments collectively decide on that new boulevard, construction would be at least a decade out.
