The Florida Department of Transportation has its sights set on Tampas major thoroughfares. While there are several projects FDOT is working on this year, there are four main ones.The Downtown Tampa Interchange project:The project's goal is to make several improvements along the I-275 and I-4 interchange. Crews are working on adding a lane throughout the area to help with traffic movement and reduce the crash count.Its very important for traffic in the area. Were going to be adding essentially an additional lane of capacity to most of the major movements here in the interchange, which will help thru-put as well as helping to reduce the congestion that can lead to crashes, said Austin Petersen, construction project manager for FDOT.Theyre about halfway done and will complete the project in 2027.As youre driving, youll see were starting to do a lot more construction on the interstate area itself. We started the project mostly in kind of the arterial local roadways but were starting to do work on the interstate. Going to have some traffic shifts people need to be aware of. Watching their speeds as theyre driving through the work zones so that they can follow the signs and pay attention to what were doing, said Petersen.The new Howard Frankland Bridge:Construction started on this project in the spring of 2020.The main goal is also to improve the operations of traffic moving across the bay and provide more dependable, reliable commute time for riders, said Petersen.Its expected to fully wrap up in early 2026. FDOT will start switching traffic to the new bridge this spring.In the final configuration, youll have the new bridge will have four general purpose lanes, thatll go towards Pinellas County. And well also have two express lanes in both directions towards Pinellas County, towards Tampa and there will be a lot more capacity and opportunity for drivers, said Petersen.I-275 Capacity Improvement project:This project will go from north of I-4 to north of Hillsborough Avenue. Itll go from 3 travel lanes to 4 in each direction.That will be four lanes in both northbound and southbound directions from approximately just north of the downtown interchange to Hanna, said Petersen.Crews are in the final phase of this project, and drivers will soon notice the changes on their commute.As were kind of wrapping here, commuters can start to see that were going to be opening sections of I-275 to the additional 4th lane, said Petersen.Tampas Westshore Interchange project:This is FDOTs largest job in Tampa ever.Its a big job. Its a billion-dollar project, and its a very complex interchange with a lot of bridges, said Zachary Stringer, special projects construction manager for FDOT.Construction is set to begin this spring, revamping how people move through the area.Were currently in the design phase. Weve been in the design phase since early 2023. We had a planning phase, then were in whats called pre-construction, and well get into actual construction on some early projects in spring of 2025, said Stringer.Because its such a big project, it will take 8 years to complete, so crews hope to wrap up around 2031 or 2032.First and foremost, its a safety project. Its going to fix some tricky weaves that exist right now. You think about coming up 60, trying to get over to the airport, itll fix that. Additionally, if youre coming up 275, trying to get over to 60, so theres some spots that were going to improve and make the decision points a little earlier and more user friendly. Then also some choke points like the loop for people coming down 60 going to 275 north, so that will relieve some of that congestion were going to get rid of the loop ramp and make it a curved flyover, said Stringer.One other thing this job is going to do to benefit the area is its going to connect communities that were separated by 275 previously, he added.As more people have moved to Tampa Bay in recent years, the worse congestion has become. Thats the purpose behind all of these projects: improving traffic flow and safety.We definitely need capacity improvements, need these safety and operation improvements to make sure that traffic is flowing effectively, said Petersen.FDOT wants to remind drivers to drive slowly through construction zones and follow the signs, to keep crews safe.