Please don’t support the ruin of our neighborhood for such a minuscule reason

Gandy Friendship Trail BridgeRemember the much loved Gandy Friendship Trail bridge, which may never re-open, but at least we gained a worthy contender as a consolation prize, yes a shiny new overhead toll bridge, permanently blocking out the sun. A vast improvement, we the community, think not!.

Bill/Tampa

I close on my house this Monday, a house I plan on living in for years to come. It is two blocks north of Gandy. I pray that I do not have to look at a VERY UNWANTED overhead concrete structure running right down the middle of my neighborhood’s main street. How sad that my neighborhood stands to be seriously degraded so an overdeveloped, overpopulated peninsula (Pinellas County) can have a little bit better evacuation system to accommodate people who wait until the last minute to leave their homes. This is the only merit that this overpass has, and to us residents it is not enough. If we are willing to accept rush hour congestion over a super unattractive overhead structure, why not give us what we want? There is no doubt there will still be bad rush hour traffic even if the proposed project is constructed, and it is shameful to think we will sit in that traffic and be in the shadow of a sparsely used overhead road that is only needed for a couple of hours each business day and maybe once every ten years for possible tropical storm/hurricane evacuation.

Please don’t support the ruin of our neighborhood for such a minuscule reason. Think about our quality of life and what makes us happier people. This is what you, as our community leaders, should want for us. If this project was truly needed we would be asking for it and THEA would have been able to easily sell it. But it is not needed and may never be needed which is why we reject it.

Don’t discount the number of people who have signed the petition to stop this project.

Bill
PS - All due respect to Ray Chiaramonte, he sounded like a desperate salesman when he was telling me how nice it will look. We all know that is just hogwash.
Follow-up response to Ray Chairmonte, Executive Director, Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization

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