The Florida Department of Transportation is considering plans to expand the Courtney Campbell Causeway, and it could unexpectedly benefit marine habitats in Old Tampa Bay.
From 2022 to 2024, Old Tampa Bay lost 324 acres of seagrass — an 8% decrease. It’s concerning local environmental organizations as seagrass is the primary indicator of the bay’s overall health, according to Ed Sherwood, the executive director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
One of the reasons for the decrease in seagrass is an excess of nutrients in the water. That’s according to Alana Todd, an environmental planner for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.
“When you have an excess amount of nutrients, that can cause algae to overproduce,” Todd said. “And when that algae starts to overproduce, then it starts to block out the light that seagrasses and other habitats in the bay need to grow.”
One of the ways to offset the accumulation of excess nutrients is increased tidal circulation.
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The causeway currently divides the northern and southern regions of Old Tampa Bay.
So the Florida Department of Transportation is looking for ways to help water flow.
And while it’s unlikely that the bridge will be elevated, the structure underneath the causeway could be removed, according to Craig Fox, a District Seven project manager at the Florida Department of Transportation.
“It would be an actual bridge structure and the water would flow underneath,” Fox said.
FDOT currently has two studies regarding the Campbell Causeway. The first is looking at possible bridge strengthening, and the second is looking at ways to increase tidal flow.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay reports FDOT will continue taking public comments through next summer, and then hold a public hearing in fall 2026. A plan of what they’ll do next could be ready by the spring of 2027.
It is unclear how much the causeway’s expansion will cost, according to Kristen Carson, a FDOT spokesperson for District Seven.
History of the Campbell Causeway
Construction of the causeway began nearly 100 years ago, in 1927. It was built by a local dredging contractor, Ben T. Davis, according to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s website. Davis’ name now graces a beach on the Tampa side of the causeway.
The causeway, then named the Davis Causeway, was completed in 1934, costing about $900,000.
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A decade later, the federal government seized control of it for the war effort and gave the state of Florida control.
In 1947, the causeway was renamed the Courtney Campbell Causeway, after a local politician who lobbied for repairs for the causeway, according to the website.
But in the following decades, Old Tampa Bay’s health began declining.
“From about the 1950s to the 1980s, we had really bad water quality conditions that led to about a 50% reduction in overall seagrass coverage in Tampa Bay,” said Sherwood.
“And since the early 1980s, with a lot of investment and improvements across the board from sources of nutrient pollution flowing into the bay, we’ve seen a resurgence of seagrass coverage.”
The coverage peaked in the area in 2016, according to Sherwood. But then the area saw a sharp decline over the next six years.
“It just points to the need to be vigilant on actions that will continue to preserve the health of Tampa Bay,” Sherwood said. “And one of these actions we think are most valuable, especially on projects that have once in a lifetime opportunity to construct, [are] these bridge replacements and causeway alterations.”
