The Rewind: March TPO Board Meeting

The March TPO Board meeting began with recognition of retiring Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano. His 14 years of service at the airport and collaboration with the Hillsborough TPO has had a lasting impact on the community.

Amendments to the Transportation Improvement Program were the first action item of the meeting. The two amendments that were considered were Phase 1 of the HART Maintenance Site Remediation and Modernization and the Hillsborough County Smart Traffic Network. To learn more about these amendments, visit the project page. One Board member asked about the liability of HART in the instance where harm might come to a bus carrying hydrogen. HART staff responded by stating they would need to follow up with their legal team to confirm if a liability clause addresses this. Discussion also arose about smart technology and its ability to ensure all roadway users are able to smoothly transition through traffic lights without long wait times.

Following the approval of the TIP Amendments, the Board then took action on the 2025 Public Participation Plan’s (PPP) Measures of Effectiveness (MOE) Report. Feedback was received from the Chair, Mayor Ross, stating that in future reports he would like to see the data presented in a way that is comparable from year to year to make the performance levels more traceable and easier to understand. It was also asked by a Board member if the survey platform that the TPO is planning to transition to will be an additional expense. TPO staff clarified that because the agency already owns the software that houses this platform there would be no additional costs to utilize it. Ultimately the Board unanimously approved the 2025 MOE Report.

Originally listed as a Consent Agenda item, the Performance Targets for Pavement & Bridge Condition and System Reliability were requested to be moved as an action item for Board discussion. Councilmember Hurtak led this discussion by highlighting the issue of “blocking the box” in which vehicles block the intersection while oncoming traffic is attempting to transition through the green light. It was requested that TPO staff produce a report on this issue to provide strategies to overcome this barrier to travel time reliability and also present it during the next legislative session.

Upon reviewing the action items, the TPO Board then received a status report on the Streetcar Extension Update. Many of the Board members expressed their thanks for the presentation and excitement for what the future holds. One request was made that for future presentations a map be provided to show the connectivity of the streetcar route to more accurately display how community members could potentially use different modes of transportation to access the streetcar. Interested in viewing all the proceedings? Recordings of the TPO Board Meetings can be viewed on our YouTube channel: Transportation Planning Organization – YouTube