The City operates five (5) movable span bridges that provide access across the Hillsborough River to the Tampa Central Business District:
- Platt Street Bridge (#105500) (County owned)
- Brorein Street Bridge (#105501)
- Cass Street Bridge (#105502)
- Laurel Street Bridge (#105503)
- Columbus Drive Bridge (#105504) (County owned)
These five (5) bridges are operated in accordance with Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 - Navigation and Navigable Waters, Part 117 - Drawbridge Operation Regulations. Bridge opening for River traffic is available on two-hour notice.
Please call (813) 323-8422 to schedule a bridge opening.
The following information is to be provided to the bridge operator:
- name of the boat;
- direction of travel (north or south); and
- Captain's name.
If traveling southbound, the bridge order is: Hillsborough Avenue, Columbus Drive, Laurel Street, Cass Street, Kennedy Boulevard, Brorein Street, and Platt Street.
If traveling northbound, the bridge order is: Platt Street, Brorein Street, Kennedy Boulevard, Cass Street, Laurel Street, Columbus Drive, and Hillsborough Avenue.
Two (2) bridges, - Kennedy Boulevard and Hillsborough Avenue bridges, within the City, are operated by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
Public Comment for a Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) Proposed Application
Background
The City of Tampa is seeking public comment on a proposed application for a CDBG-MIT General Infrastructure Program Grant for $8,400,000 for rehabilitation of the Brorein Street Bridge (#105501) spanning the Hillsborough River.
In April 2018, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that the state of Florida would receive $633,485,000 in funding to support long-term mitigation efforts (following Hurricanes Hermine, Matthew, and Irma) through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) Program. The Federal Register Vol. 84, No. 45838, which delineates all program requirements was released on August 30, 2019.
The CBDG-MIT funding is designed to address mitigation needs to ensure that the state of Florida is more resilient to future natural disasters. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) is the lead agency and responsible entity for administering the CDBG-MIT funds allocated to the state. The state of Florida’s Action Plan, which was approved by HUD on April 2, 2020, details how this funding, along with subsequent allocations, will be apportioned to address unmet mitigation needs in Florida that represent targeted strategic investments for grantees based on current or foreseeable risks.
The City of Tampa’s grant application for the Rebuild Florida Mitigation General Infrastructure Program is due September 17, 2021.
City of Tampa Proposal
The City of Tampa proposes to perform a structural rehabilitation for the Brorein Street Bridge (Structure #105501), a steel structure, double-span bascule-bridge first constructed in 1956 that is an important crossing over navigable waters of the Hillsborough River serving as an arterial connection to Tampa’s Downtown. The Brorein Street Bridge is a functionally obsolete and structurally deficient bridge that carries an Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) of 17,300 vehicles. It carries westbound vehicular traffic as one bridge of a one-way pair that crosses the Hillsborough River. It is part of the City’s truck route network, serves as a transit route, and operates as a primary connector for emergency vehicles (fire, police, etc.) and to area hospitals. It also connects a large portion of the City’s population to Downtown Tampa, the major economic and workplace center of the City. A failure of the bridge’s structure would significantly negatively impact access and public health.
This rehabilitation will extend the bridge’s service life by 50 years. The proposed improvements include:
- Cleaning, repair, or replacement of corroded steel structural members and coating the
- bridge to control corrosion; and
- Repair/replacement of steel deck, concrete structural members restoration including spall
- & cracks repair; and
- Architectural rehabilitation of the control house; and
- Widening of sidewalks and shared-use paths across the bridge.
This project will provide for maintaining vehicular traffic over the bridge and navigable waters traffic within the Hillsborough River. Additionally, this project allows for multimodal transportation across the Hillsborough River by maintaining transit access and enhancing the pedestrian and bicycle facilities along the bridge.
Public Comment
The City of Tampa invites public comment on the project described above. You can submit your comments to TampaCDBGMIT@tampagov.net before September 15, 2021.
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