TAMPA, Fla. – If your plans next week involve cruising through Ybor City, you might want to start looking at a map now. Starting this Monday, February 9, a chunk of 7th Avenue is basically turning into a no-go zone.
Crews are moving in to tear down an overhead bridge as part of the massive safety overhaul at the Downtown Tampa Interchange, and that means the road between Nebraska and Central Avenues is shutting down completely.
The closure isn’t just a quick fix, either. While the road stays shut through Friday, February 13, it actually reopens briefly for Valentine’s Day weekend before slamming shut again on Sunday, February 15.
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Once that second phase starts, 7th Avenue will stay blocked off through the end of the month. It’s a significant headache for anyone trying to navigate the edge of the historic district, especially since that intersection is a major artery for local traffic.
For those heading westbound, the detour is a bit of a loop: you’ll be forced to hang a right on Nebraska, take Palm Avenue over to Central, and then hook a left to get back down to 7th. If you’re traveling eastbound, it’s the exact opposite—left on Central, right on Palm, and right on Nebraska.
It’s a lot of extra turns for a relatively short stretch of road, so expect some serious bottlenecking during rush hour.
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This project is all about making the I-275 and I-4 junction safer in the long run, but for the next few weeks, the “safety” part starts with making sure nobody clips a construction worker or a pedestrian while trying to bypass the mess.
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