HART Upgrades Bus Routes, Stops In Westshore, East Tampa

In an attempt to make services more accessible and convenient to customers, HART Route 15 at Columbus Drive in Tampa recently received a facelift thanks to the Bus Stop Improvement Program.

Running along Columbus Drive from the Westshore Plaza Transfer Center to the NetPark Transfer Center, 28 bus stops were improved with landing pads (concrete pads that provide a stable surface for persons with a mobility device) with approximately 1,100 feet of sidewalk installed along the 16-mile route.

An additional 28 bus stops will be improved with 6,600 feet of sidewalk installed along Route 15 as part of the Broadway Sidewalk Project which focuses on the Broadway Avenue portion of Route 15 between 50th and 66th Streets in East Tampa; work started the week of July 9th on the $200,000 project funded by the New Freedom Grant, a federal program that supports transit projects improving accessibility for persons with disabilities.

“No project is too small to drastically improve connectivity,” says HART Public Information Officer Marcia Mejia. “The Broadway Sidewalk Project is an example of this, providing connections from bus stops to the adjacent industrial development.”

Route 39 at Busch Boulevard and Route 36 at Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue are the next HART routes slated for improvements as part of the Bus Stop Improvement program, a route-by-route assessment of bus stops to ensure ADA accessibility, convenience and safety aiming to improve the overall efficiency of HART services.

“This program is critical because our customers, drivers and buses are the essential parts of our system,” Mejia says. “Our 3,300 bus stops throughout Hillsborough County serve as the access points to our system.”

HART aims to make all stops ADA compliant eventually. In 2010, 113 shelters were installed with 79 bus stops upgraded  while in 2011, 50 shelters were installed and 218 bus stops upgraded. So far, in 2012, 38 shelters have been installed with 287 bus stops improved. Currently, one of every six HART bus stops has a shelter.

Writer: Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
Source: Marcia Mejia, HART