Reimagine I-175

08/31/2026

Interstates are a convenient and modern marvel of engineering…. Until an entire highway off ramp is shut down after a crash. Folks expecting to enter downtown via 175 this evening weren’t able to.

08/27/2026

08/10/2026

There’s an argument that interstates are critical infrastructure to get people to the hospitals. And it’s true 175 can get you to the hospital a few seconds faster than the grid, depending on where you’re coming from. But here’s the thing: 175 is useless when there Is a bad accident, flooding, too much congestion, or it’s shutdown for maintenance. In those cases, the city grid is superior to the interstate for getting people to the hospital. The essential workers stuck behind a serious accident driving into work? They’re stuck in traffic with no way off the interstate.

08/03/2026

Eisenhower was not pleased when he saw cities putting interstates inside downtowns. They were meant to connect the cities not divide them and displace urban residents.

08/03/2026

Highway expansions not only destroy our communities and pollute our air with noise and pollution. They also don’t actually make traffic flow better. Those extra lanes quickly become clogged and you’re back where you started. The only way to reduce congestion is with public transit and putting people closer to jobs.

The Katy Freeway's 26 lanes and $3 billion price tag offer a cautionary tale: induced demand means more road capacity simply generates more traffic to fill it.

07/20/2026

Ken Welch told Garrett Greco On Tampa Bay Developer podcast that “nobody is demanding that (175 removal)”

The current Mayor is frankly out of touch with the demands of the neighborhoods. There are 5 signed neighborhood association position statements from Southside neighborhoods on 175 removal.

We sent those position statements to him. We asked for a meeting with him for months to catch him up to speed. He didn’t make time for us to meet with him. We are not the only organization or neighborhood group that have been denied meetings.

Link to podcast here: fast forward to 18:10

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MiQWdS9nN970xPku4U13K?si=MSSxvtH8TiiC_rqTPQY-dA&utm_source=copy-link

07/02/2026

Mayor Welch is having a press conference right now in Campbell Park to announce his choice of a developer for the Gas Plant. The backdrop for this conference is a massive wall that separates Campbell Park from the future Gas Plant, interstate 175.

We’ve attempted to talk to the Mayor for the last several years as the 175 action plan has been underway with FDOT. He has not been willing to talk to us. He hasn’t shown up for any of the FDOT meetings. This developer he chose has no plans to talk about modifying 175.

As long as 175 remains the way it is, there will remain a physical and psychological divide between South St pete and its Historic Gas Plant.

We hope the next mayor will be ready to help the communities that have been asking for this wall to come down and will work toward a solution of reconnecting our city back together.

06/29/2026

“The City should also coordinate redevelopment planning with long-term conversations around I-175, including potential redesign, removal or reconnection strategies that improve access between Campbell Park, the Southside, downtown and the Gas Plant site.”

- thank you Sierra Club for keeping the dream alive. A resilient and sustainable future Gas Plant should include a re-imagination of 175.

Welcome to the Catalyst’s Community Voices platform. We’ve curated community leaders and thinkers from all parts of our great city to speak on issues that affect us all. Visit our Community Voices page for more details. The Historic Gas Plant District represents one of the most consequential red...