Howard Frankland Bridge — Tampa, Florida

The Howard Frankland Bridge carries Interstate 275 across Old Tampa Bay between Tampa and St. Petersburg, and it is the busiest of the bay's crossings. WUSF reported in May 2026 that an estimated 250,000 motorists use it daily, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. The original bridge opened in 1960, a second span followed in 1990, and between 2020 and 2026 FDOT built a new bridge that replaced the 1960 structure and added tolled express lanes and a trail.

The Tampa end of the project reaches State Road 60. FDOT's project page gives the limits of the rebuild as 4th Street in Pinellas County to State Road 60 in Hillsborough County, a length of 5.8 miles, with a construction cost of $973.4 million.

The bridge is named for a Tampa businessman, not a public engineer. Hillsborough County describes Howard Frankland, who lived from 1901 to 1980, as a prominent Hillsborough County entrepreneur, banker and philanthropist. As proprietor of Pioneer Tire Company in Tampa he studied rubber and developed ways to recap tires and make floor mats and rubber balls. He served as president of the First National Bank of Tampa and of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, and he worked to attract MacDill Air Force Base and to build a third bridge across Tampa Bay.

That third bridge was his long campaign. The county states that Frankland advocated a cross-bay span between the Gandy Bridge and the Courtney Campbell Causeway, and that he sat on the State Road Board when the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce suggested naming the new bridge for him. At the opening ceremony in January 1960, attended by Gov. LeRoy Collins, Frankland said he hoped the bridge would be a real tie of friendship linking Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, as the St. Petersburg Times reported at the time.

For three decades the 1960 bridge carried traffic in both directions. Hillsborough County records that it became the northbound span when a second, parallel bridge for southbound traffic opened in 1990. By the 2010s the older structure was wearing out. WUSF reported in March 2025 that FDOT considered the 1960 span a victim of saltwater corrosion that required cost-prohibitive maintenance, and that the state announced replacement plans in 2013. FOX 13 reports that FDOT announced the replacement project in 2017, and both outlets date the start of construction to 2020.

The replacement Howard Frankland design differs from its predecessors. WUSF reported that the new bridge was built with improved concrete and metals intended to resist saltwater, giving it an estimated 100-year lifespan, and that it includes infrastructure to handle a rail system. In May 2026 WUSF added that the new bridge stands taller than the older spans so that storm surge is less likely to spill onto the roadway during tropical storms or hurricanes.

The new southbound span opened to traffic in March 2025. WUSF described the switch as the end of more than a decade of planning and four years of construction on an eight-lane span over Old Tampa Bay. FOX 13 published photos of the span after it opened on March 25, 2025. FDOT's project page states that the 1990s Howard Frankland Bridge was then converted to carry northbound traffic, while the original 1960s bridge was removed. WUSF reported in May 2026 that final work to remove the original bridge had been completed.

The new bridge between Tampa and St. Petersburg carries four general-use lanes in each direction, with two express lanes each way in the median. FDOT states that the express lanes extend from 4th Street North in St. Petersburg to just north of the bridge in Tampa, separated from the general-use lanes by barrier walls and flexible plastic poles. Only passenger vehicles, registered vanpools and buses are allowed in the I-275 express lanes.

The express lanes opened in stages. WUSF reported that FDOT opened the northbound express lanes early on May 27, 2026, with the southbound express lanes following within days, and that the express lanes increase bridge capacity by 50%. According to FDOT, as of August 22, 2026 tolls are collected electronically 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the SunPass Prepaid Toll Program. WUSF and 83 Degrees Media report a toll of 50 cents per trip, with no toll-by-plate option.

83 Degrees Media, quoting FDOT, explains how drivers use the lanes. Southbound I-275 motorists can enter the express lanes just north of the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa and stay in them into St. Petersburg, merging back before the 4th Street North exit. Northbound drivers can enter just north of 4th Street North, cross Old Tampa Bay in the express lanes, and merge back into the general-use lanes just north of the bridge in Tampa.

FDOT also posted a 65 MPH speed limit across the Howard Frankland Bridge effective August 22, 2026, with a reduced 55 MPH limit on either side of the bridge during nearby construction. The contractor for the bridge project is the Archer Western and Traylor Bros joint venture.

The rebuilt crossing between Tampa and St. Petersburg also serves people on foot and on bicycles. FDOT describes a 12-foot-wide, barrier-separated shared-use path on the north side of the new bridge, nearly seven miles long, with four shaded, sail-adorned overlooks above Old Tampa Bay. The path is open daily from sunrise to sunset.

Access on the Tampa side is at the south end of Reo Street, with the St. Petersburg access at the north end of 4th Street. 83 Degrees Media reported that the Westshore Alliance hosted a ribbon-cutting for the trail at the Reo Street trail head on June 6, 2026. FDOT states that additional connections at Ulmerton Road in Pinellas County and at Reo Street in Tampa are being built under separate projects.

Project cost figures for the Howard Frankland rebuild changed over time. WUSF and FOX 13 cited $865 million when the southbound span opened in March 2025. By May 2026 WUSF reported a total of $973 million and linked its own reporting that the project had risen more than $100 million over budget, and FDOT's project page lists $973.4 million.

Traffic estimates also vary by source. WUSF, citing FDOT, puts daily use at about 250,000 drivers. FOX 13 quoted an FDOT project manager in 2025 saying about 200,000 people use the bridge every day, more than the Courtney Campbell Causeway, the Gandy Bridge and the Sunshine Skyway combined. WUSF reported in 2025 that the Howard Frankland carries the most traffic by far of the three spans across Old Tampa Bay.