Drivers in the greater Tampa Bay region face long commutes — and figures from the University Area Community Development Corporation back that up.
The average commute in the greater Tampa Bay region is 29 minutes, and 219,000 people travel an hour or more each way to work every day.
The UACDC, which serves the area west of the University of South Florida Tampa campus, held its quarterly partners meeting Tuesday, with a focus on the drives residents face.
Jeff Chernoff, CEO of Insurance Trust, shared his own experience with attendees.
"I remember when you could drive up Bruce B. Downs and get to Pasco County in five minutes. The only traffic light was Bearss and Bruce B. Downs," Chernoff said. "Now, if you're lucky, it takes about 25 minutes. So I've seen the impact of that.''
Sarah Burgoyne, Tampa Bay Partnership Senior Director of Research and Public Policy, says how long people have to drive is expected to increase over the next couple of years.
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“We need roads, we need transit, walking, biking, ferries, you name it, we should be utilizing it in the Tampa Bay region because there's no one solution that's going to work for every area,” said Burgoyne.
UACDC officials want county and city planners, as well as developers, to prioritize transportation earlier in their plans instead of making it an afterthought.
Because of these growing concerns about traffic congestion, Tampa International Airport is partnering with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority to launch the 727 Airport Express bus line on October 4.
The service will provide quick and affordable transportation between downtown St. Pete, the St. Pete Pier, and the airport using I-275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge express lanes.
Officials say it will offer consistent service between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m., and connect with the SunRunner.
“(It's) a great example of a public-private partnership where you're going to give people access to get to the airport all the way across the bay for a very affordable price," said Christopher M. Yanes, Senior Project Director at TPA. "And that's something that I think we can continue to see those sorts of solutions.”
Yanes said being proactive and forming these cooperative relationships could be one solution to alleviate some of the traffic congestion.
Others like Erica Moody, the UACDC CEO, also pointed to these partnerships as a very important part of the process.
“What we learned today is no one person or one organization can do this alone. It truly is a public-private partnership where we have to come together, talk about these really challenging problems, and start to work toward solutions,” said Moody.
