Selmon Expressway Will Close This Week: Here’s Why

Those of you taking the Selmon Expressway know it will be closing this week. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority announced that the Selmon Expressway West extension will be closed this Thursday, June 20 at 8 PM. It will reopen on Friday, June 21 before 6 AM. This is good news, so if you are looking to take that commute to your job on Friday morning you can. The work will be done on the elevated lanes over Gandy Boulevard. The reason why they are closing it is to ensure the safety and integrity of the expressway. The way around it will be to use Gandy Boulevard local lanes at the times when the expressway is closed.

The Selmon Expressway is named after Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend Lee Roy Selmon. He was the very first draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the history of the franchise. He was drafted in the first round with the first pick in the 1976 NFL Draft. He played football at the University of Oklahoma and was the NFL Defensive Player of the year in 1979. He also was a first-team all-pro three times in his career. Additionally, he made the Pro Bowl six straight times from 1979 to 1984. Yes, Lee Roy Selmon is in the Buccaneers Ring of Honor and his name is shown at Raymond James Stadium. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995. Lee Roy Selmon also joined the University of South Florida athletic department here in Tampa. He was the Athletic Director from 2001 to 2004.

Before it was known as the Selmon Expressway it was known as the Southern Crosstown Expressway. The name of the Expressway was changed to what it is now in 1999.

Updated June 2024

As you drive over the Howard Frankland Bridge, you see progress, but it's still pretty tough to imagine what all of this work is going to look like upon completion. Work won't finish until late 2025 according to the Florida Department of Transportation. The cost is expected to be about $865 million. Not patient enough to wait until 2025 to see what this is all going to look like? Nor am I. Here's a sneak preview from artist renditions shared by the Florida Department of Transportation.

A new southbound/westbound (from Tampa to St. Pete) bridge is what you see currently being built north of the current southbound/westbound bridge. It'll have 8 lanes - 4 for general use and 4 express lanes. There's a bike and pedestrian path in the plan. The bridge we use now to go from Tampa to St. Pete will become the new northbound/eastbound part of 275 once the new bridge is ready. The bridge we use to go from St. Pete to Tampa will be taken down.

As of May 2024:
- 100% of pilings have been driven.
- 99% of bridge footings have been completed.
- 98% of bridge columns have been completed.
- 92% of bridge caps have been completed.
- 77% of the bridge superstructure beams have been placed.
- 71% of bridge decks placed.

Not only are they making major progress on the structure of the bridge. But they have also finally repaved the 2 right lanes by the Martin Luther King JR exit. I'd imagine that the nice weather and lack of rain has helped them get some of this progress completed.

Many complain that this won't help with our traffic flow, especially with the malfunction junction exit going into the Veteran's/Clearwater. Well, don't worry. The FDOT is on that too, as apart of the Westshore Interchange reconstruction project.