Tolls Switch On Today for Howard Frankland Express Lanes: SunPass Only, 65 MPH, No Exceptions

The free ride across the bay is over. As of Saturday, August 22, the Florida Department of Transportation is electronically collecting tolls in the new Howard Frankland Bridge express lanes on I-275, and the only accepted payment is a SunPass transponder. No cash. No toll-by-plate. If you drive into those lanes on a Monday morning without an active transponder, you are entering a toll facility with no way to pay it.

That matters to a lot of people here. FDOT puts daily traffic on the Howard Frankland at roughly 250,000 vehicles, making it the busiest bridge in the region and the daily reality for South Tampa and Westshore commuters, airport traffic, and anyone crossing to Pinellas for work or school.

Local news reports have put the toll at 50 cents per crossing. The lanes had been running at no charge through a testing phase since they opened in late May, which is why the change catches people off guard: the pavement looks identical this morning, the billing does not.

Who is allowed in, and who is not

The express lanes are restricted to passenger vehicles, registered vanpools, and buses. Trucks are out. There are two express lanes in each direction, sitting in the median of I-275 and walled off from the four general-use lanes by barrier and flexible plastic poles, so this is not a stripe you drift across when traffic backs up. You commit at the entrance or you stay in the general lanes.

Southbound drivers pick up the express lanes just south of the State Road 60 interchange in Tampa. On the St. Petersburg side, the entrance sits just past the Fourth Street exit. The lanes run from Fourth Street North in St. Pete to just north of the bridge in Tampa, then merge back into the general-use lanes.

The speed limit changed today too

FDOT posted a new 65 mph limit across the main span effective the same day tolling started. The catch is what happens at either end. Both approaches remain 55 mph because construction crews are still working there, so drivers are going to be slowing down twice on a single trip. Watch the signs rather than the car in front of you.

The wider bridge added capacity, not just a toll. FDOT says the express lanes increase the crossing's capacity by 50 percent, and the new span is built taller than the ones it replaced to keep storm surge off the roadway during tropical systems. The state expects it to last a century.

Free alternative: the path is still free

Nothing changed for the shared-use path on the north side of the bridge. It is 12 feet wide, nearly seven miles long, barrier-separated from traffic, and open every day from sunrise to sunset. Four shaded overlooks with sail canopies give walkers and cyclists a place to stop over Old Tampa Bay. Tampa-side access is at the south end of Reo Street.

General-use lanes on I-275 remain free. The toll buys the median lanes, not the bridge.

What is still unfinished

The $973.4 million project, built by Archer Western/Traylor Bros Joint Venture over five and a half miles, is not done. FDOT lists completion in late 2026. Additional connections to the shared-use path from Ulmerton Road and Fourth Street North in St. Petersburg and from Reo Street in Tampa are being built under separate contracts and are not open yet.

Overnight work continues in the meantime. FDOT has lane closures scheduled on the bridge between the two counties from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly through Saturday, August 29. Project updates and closure alerts are posted on the FDOT Tampa Bay project page.

For more on road work, closures and commuting changes across the city, keep up with Tampa Community Website and our alerts and news coverage. Follow us on Facebook, and if you crossed this morning, tell us what you paid and how it went: join the conversation in our Community Forum.

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Header photo: Ward Beckett & Co. / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)