Getting around Tampa isn’t easy. Will this big plan change that?

Picture Tampa decades from now, in 2050. How would you like city streets to look?

In the first-of-its kind, citywide master mobility plan set to be released to the public Tuesday, Mayor Jane Castor outlines her vision: Record low daily miles driven. Zero roadway deaths and life-altering injuries. Commute times that are 15 minutes or less. And half of all commuters walking, biking or taking transit.

The plan, known as Tampa MOVES, estimates a $2 billion price tag to make that vision a reality.

More than two years in the making, the plan offers a detailed look at the state of the city’s transportation infrastructure and prioritizes needs over the next 30 years, using “an equitable, data-driven process informed by community input,” Mobility Department Director Vik Bhide said in a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Times.

“With Tampa MOVES, we will make significant progress in communities that lack comfortable and reliable ways to get around by foot and bike,” Castor said in a written statement. “We will also invest in our existing assets by resurfacing roadways in Tampa’s neighborhoods.”

Currently, there’s plenty of room for improvement. In Florida’s third-largest city, limited transportation investment has not kept up with basic maintenance, let alone delivered infrastructure such as rapid bus lines and light rail found in other similarly-sized metro areas.

Tampa residents spend a higher proportion of their income on housing and transportation than people who live in peer cities Pittsburgh, Richmond, Austin, Charlotte and Orlando, according to the MOVES plan. Tampa also witnesses more fatal crashes per 100,000 people than those five cities. A higher proportion of Tampa residents drive to work alone compared to those other cities, except for Orlando.

About 10% of major streets in Tampa have bicycle facilities that are comfortable and suitable for all riders, according to city data.

The MOVES plan details five guiding principles the city will now use to prioritize the maintenance, repair and expansion of its transportation offerings: mobility, opportunity, vision, equity and safety.

“Our focus is: How can we use data to pick out where we should put our limited dollars and our future dollars?” said Tampa’s interim chief planner Alex Henry. “Where are they going to make the most impact toward our transportation vision?”

Henry is the city’s Vision Zero Team Leader, responsible for spearheading the city’s strategy to eliminate roadway fatalities and severe injuries. To date there have been 17 roadway fatalities in the city this year, five fewer than during the same period in 2022, he said. Of those 17, eight were pedestrians.

From 2010 to 2021, Tampa’s population increased by more than 50,000 residents, according to city data. The region continues to see a net influx of people exceeding the national average. To support growth, the MOVES plan outlines a shift to a “context-based approach” design framework.

“This means the right design for the right place,” Bhide said. “And also harmonizing the planning process.”

Conventional street design tailors decisions to either urban or rural streets. The MOVES plan emphasizes a more thorough classification system based on factors including development patterns and roadway connectivity, travel time, crash statistics and traffic volume. The city will be updating its design guide accordingly.

In conceiving the plan, city staff conducted online surveys, virtual meetings and in-person town calls. In 2021, city staff began asking community members about their mobility challenges and desires. More than 400 comments came in through online surveys and more that 150 people participated in virtual meetings. The year after, the city hosted walking audits, focus groups and a workshop in West Tampa.

The most reoccurring needs were hardly surprising: improving sidewalks, expanding protected bicycle lanes, adding traffic calming, boosting transit offerings and increasing crosswalks.

Funding is, and has always been, the biggest obstacle, Bhide said.

“We’ve got anywhere from eight to 10 times the funding needs compared to the funding available today. That’s a huge lift,” he said. “We’re a public agency that delivers on community resources. We can only do what we can with the resources that we have.”

The city has scooped up more than $125 million in competitive federal grants over the past four years to address transportation insufficiencies, and staff hope the MOVES plan will help attract more.

In February, U.S. Rep Kathy Castor and Mayor Castor (who are not related) announced a $20 million federal grant for street safety changes near parks, schools and transit hubs. This grant will help fund some of the city’s initial priority projects for the first several years of the MOVES plan including a new crosswalk and traffic calming along W Main Street in West Tampa to support a growing commercial district. Other MOVES priorities include re-allocating road space to install a new protected cycle track on downtown’s Morgan Street and implementing a safe bicycle route from Westshore to downtown along Gray Street.

The plan arrives amid high-profile departures of four senior female staff from the department, all of whom have expressed concern about its direction, according to public records and interviews with the Times. All four were involved in the development of the plan.

When asked if their departure will hurt the implementation of the plan, Bhide said the department has “a bench of talent” and that vacancies will soon be filled.

“We feel very good about our team,” he said. “We’ve always been able to perform well with limited resources and that is because of our staff.”