Selmon Expressway Widening Closes Downtown Tampa Street for Two Years

Work on the $362 million South Selmon Capacity Project reaches downtown Tampa on October 20, when crews close South Tampa Street at East Brorein Street for about two years to install support pillars for the widened Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, according to the City of Tampa and Tampa Bay Business and Wealth.

What Happened

Starting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20, weather permitting, the section of South Tampa Street beneath the expressway known as the S Curve will close at East Brorein Street City of Tampa. Drivers will be routed through a temporarily converted eastbound lane on East Brorein Street to reach South Franklin Street. The city estimates the new traffic pattern will remain until about November 2028.

East Brorein Street between South Tampa and South Franklin streets will also close overnight from 8 p.m. October 20 to 5 a.m. October 21 for restriping, which will temporarily close the Tampa Convention Center garage entrance City of Tampa. Outside that overnight window, the garage entrance on Brorein and the exhibit hall upper loading docks on Franklin Street stay open. Tampa Bay Business and Wealth reported that part of Brorein, normally westbound, will carry eastbound traffic, with the leftmost lane closed between South Morgan Street and South Florida Avenue Tampa Bay Business and Wealth.

The Project

The closure is part of the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority's South Selmon Capacity Project, which widens the expressway from four to six lanes over about 4.5 miles Tampa Bay Business and Wealth. The city describes the limits as west of Himes Avenue to east of Florida Avenue, adding one lane in each direction City of Tampa. The new lanes will be built inside the existing right of way.

The scope goes well beyond pavement. The authority plans to modernize 26 bridges, including a redesigned span over the Hillsborough River meant to serve as a gateway to downtown Florida Construction News. Other elements include noise barriers near homes, upgraded underpasses with better lighting, landscaping and walkways, a dog park and gathering space at the Bay to Bay Boulevard and MacDill Avenue underpass, and intelligent transportation systems for real time traffic monitoring. Entry and exit ramps will be lengthened to ease bottlenecks WUSF.

Contractor, Cost and Schedule

Archer Western Construction won the contract through competitive bidding, and the authority's board approved it in September 2025 Florida Construction News. It is the authority's largest investment since the Selmon West Extension opened in 2021. The $362 million cost is paid entirely from toll revenue collected by the authority, with no state or federal tax dollars Tampa Bay Business and Wealth.

When the contract was approved, the authority said construction would take about four years, with completion targeted for 2030 WUSF. "The South Selmon Capacity Project reflects THEA's commitment to building infrastructure that serves people first," Greg Slater, the authority's CEO and executive director, said at the time Florida Construction News.

Why It Is Being Built

Traffic on the corridor has grown more than 80 percent over the past decade, according to the authority Tampa Bay Business and Wealth. Congestion is worst during weekday rush hours and downtown events, which pushes cut through traffic onto Bayshore Boulevard and neighborhood streets WUSF. "One of the biggest areas of congestion is in the area that we're widening," Greg Deese, the authority's director of operations and engineering, told WUSF.

Where Things Stand

The downtown closure marks a shift from preliminary work to heavy structural work at the eastern end of the corridor, near the convention center and the Hillsborough River crossing. The authority said in 2025 that most work would take place without full road closures and that lane closures would usually run overnight WUSF. The two year Tampa Street closure is an exception driven by pier construction. Questions can be directed to the project team at info@southselmoncapacity.com City of Tampa.

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

• Plan downtown logistics around the detour. Contractors with deliveries, crane picks or concrete pours in the Channel District, near the convention center or along Franklin and Florida avenues should expect heavier traffic on Brorein through 2028.
• Event and hospitality owners face access changes. Convention center access is preserved, but exhibitors and nearby hotels will want to brief clients and vendors on the new pattern.
• Toll funded work moves on its own clock. Because the project does not rely on state or federal grants, its schedule is less exposed to budget cycles, which gives subs and suppliers more predictable demand.
• Bridge and structures trades will be busy. Twenty six bridges, new piers and a signature river span keep demand high for rebar, formwork, precast and crane crews in the Tampa market.
• Nearby projects should coordinate early. Developers along the corridor should engage the authority on staging, utility conflicts and right of way before planning their own work.

What to Watch

• Traffic performance of the Brorein detour in the first weeks after October 20.
• Design and construction milestones on the Hillsborough River bridge.
• Whether the 2030 completion target and November 2028 downtown reopening hold.

Bottom Line

The South Selmon project is now a daily presence in downtown Tampa. For the next two years, anyone building or operating near the convention center will be working around it, alongside other downtown activity such as the Pendry Tampa tower on the Riverwalk and the stormwater work covered in our South Howard flood project report.

Related Coverage

• Pendry Tampa Tops Out on the Riverwalk Ahead of 2027 Opening
• Property Owners Sue Tampa to Stop South Howard Flood Project
• State DOT Construction Season 2026: Billions in Highway and Bridge Work Hit the Ground Simultaneously

Image credit: Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority, map of the South Selmon widening. Image from the source article.

Sources

• City of Tampa, "Construction Updates Near Tampa Convention Center": https://www.tampa.gov/tcc/about-us/construction-updates-near-tampa-convention-center
• Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, "Downtown Tampa Road Closure to Last Two Years Starting Oct. 20": https://tbbwmag.com/2026/10/15/downtown-tampa-road-closure/
• Florida Construction News, "THEA approves $362 million South Selmon Expressway expansion": https://www.floridaconstructionnews.com/thea-approves-362-million-south-selmon-expressway-expansion/
• WUSF, "Selmon Expressway is set for a $362 million widening in South Tampa": https://www.wusf.org/transportation/2025-09-29/tampas-selmon-expressway-set-362m-expansion