Tampa Tribune reporters said that the trip on the El was 10mins in the rush hour compared to 20mins on the old lower lanes.
They got these quotes from motorists:
"Awesome," Aida Gonzalez of Valrico said after exiting the highway at Meridian Avenue and Twiggs Street. "Oh my God! It took like 10 minutes or so."
Elaine Cook said her first trip on the one-way highway was "fun" but "a little bit scary."
It grew from two lanes to 3 plus 2 shoulders
The project started as just two lanes in a deck about 11m (36ft) wide but grew to the present three 3.65m (12ft) travel land and a breakdown shoulder of 3m (10ft) on both sides for a total deck of 17m (56ft) over most of its length.
Construction of the Tampa El was traumatic
At 7:15am April 13 2004, a Tuesday, with the project about two-thirds done workers on a section of the El atop Pier 98 felt a sway and heard rumbling. As they scrambled down ladders the pier was starting to sink into the ground. Broken concrete rained down on cars traveling in the regular lanes alongside. No one was seriously hurt but the pier ended up 3.6m (11 ft) down.
URS fight goes on
URS and the expressway authority have been through protracted arbitration but this has failed to get a resolution. The tollroad is taking them to court to determine compensation.
At least the pike hasn't had to go cap in hand to the state. Tolls - going up soon - will service the additional bonds floated to cover the extra costs.
Relations with URS are still awful.
Thomas Gibbs, chairman of the Tampa expressway authority (THCEA), said Monday: "This is a URS toll. We are having to raise tolls because of all this (collapse and repair) much sooner than we expected."
Tolls at the mainline plaza will increase from a low of 25c to a still low 50c (5c a mile is now a rural toll. Most urban tolls are in the 10c to 30c/mile range.)