Volume 18 Issue 7
Inside: Publix Closed? Try Land & Sea Market! See Magazine Section!
March 27, 2010
The Direct-Mail Newspaper Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IS DIRECTLY MAILED TO: NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • West Meadows WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg
Interstate Construction Keeping Drivers On Their Toes By Michael Smith We’ve been getting quite a few inquiries from local residents and business owners asking about all the highway construction work that’s been going on between the junction of I-75 and I-275 and the S.R. 56 interchange. Well, here’s the scoop: Most of the work that people are seeing in that area is related to the construction of new ramps for northbound drivers on both highways who are exiting the interstate at S.R. 56. According to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) spokesman John McShaffrey, the new ramps, which will be almost a mile long, will allow drivers who plan to exit the interstate at S.R. 56 to do so well before they reach the busy interchange. The new northbound I-275 exit ramp crossesz over I-75, while I-75 will be widened and resurfaced, and will include a new bridge over Cypress Creek that will accommodate traffic exiting onto S.R. 56. The $29.9 million project also includes the construction of huge new
drainage ponds in the area where the two interstates pass underneath County Line Rd., which are required not only for this project, but also for the eventual widening of I-75 itself. In fact, McShaffrey says that the ramp project actually was originally a component of the widening project, but, since the widening of I-75 from Fowler Ave. all the way up to S.R. 52 is now on hold (at least for the immediate future), because of a lack of funding, FDOT planners last October decided to move forward with the ramp project, which is expected to be finished by the summer of 2012. “It was pulled out of the widening project for two reasons,” McShaffrey says. “One, because we can afford it now, and two, because it will provide a tremendous benefit to motorists.” As anyone who regularly uses the S.R. 56 interchange knows, that area has been difficult to traverse ever since it opened in 2002, but even more so recently, with the influx of new residential communities and businesses all along the S.R. 56 corridor. Motorists
By summer 2012, drivers reaching the apex of I-75 and I-275 will no longer have to cross over multiple lanes of traffic to get to or around the S.R. 56 exit ramp. coming north on I-75 have had to plete, every motorist exiting to S.R. 56 attempt to cross two or three lanes of will be taken out of the mix of ongoing traffic coming north from I-275 in traffic,” he says. order to get [all the way to the right] to According to the most recent trafthe S.R 56 exit on the east side of the fic studies, which were conducted in highway, all while northbound 2008, there were 119,000 vehicles per motorists coming on I-275 had to fight day on the stretch of I-75 between the through those same lanes of traffic to I-275 exit and the S.R. 56 exit (both the left in order to continue on their northbound and southbound), with way past the exit. The new ramps will about 22,500 of those accessing the eliminate all that merging and confuofframp at S.R. 56 from northbound sion, McShaffrey says. See “Construction” on page 6. “Once the (ramp) project is com-
Taste Of New Tampa Returns To Freedom High April 18!
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
A Tribute To The Late Frank Margarella, City Council Candidates Stump In New Tampa & We Recognize Our Middle & High School Science Fair Winners!
A Preview Of The 2010 Wesley Chapel Celebration Of The Arts, Our April Entertainment Calendar, An Exciting New Contest & Much More!
See pages 3-30!
See pages 31-56!
ECRWSS
LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
I definitely suggest visiting TheTasteof NewTampa.com and getting your booth today. And remember, since the Chamber is hosting the Taste for the first time, participating businesses WILL be allowed to sell their goods and services at the event for the first time (see the website for details)! I certainly also suggest checking out this year’s pre-sale locations to purchase wristbands for the event (see page 14 for a complete list of pre-sale locations), so you won’t have to waste any time on line the day of the event in See “Taste” on page 15. PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
Also Inside This Issue!
into a single-day, three-hour event. Unofortunately, due to the timing of our issues, this Taste preview actually was written almost exactly a month before the event, so all of the details of the participating restaurants, entertainers, sponsors and exhibitors have not yet been finalized — and we will not have another New Tampa issue out before the event to update you on the progress. Needless to say, the NTCC will still gladly accept additional restaurants, sponsors and exhibitors until a few days before the event. And, with last year’s attendance estimated at more than 5,000 people — and with very few logistical problems (e.g., no long lines) — if you’ve been thinking about having your business participate in Taste 2010,
Dated Material Please Rush!
The New Tampa Chamber of Commerce (NTCC) is proud to announce that the 17th annual Taste of New Tampa & Business & Health Expo will again be held at its most successful site ever — at Freedom High in Tampa Palms — on Sunday, April 18,
1 p.m.-4 p.m. Although this is actually the first time the Chamber will host the Taste (it previously was hosted by the now-defunct New Tampa Community Council), attendees can again expect at least two dozen restaurants serving samples of their cuisine, as well as great entertainment and a variety of business and health expo exhibitors, all crammed
Postal Customer
By Gary Nager
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 18, Issue 7 • March 27, 2010 • www.NTNeighborhoodNews.com
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