City to improve historic West Tampa street with $300k project

Main Street Quick Build // City of Tampa Marketing and Communications, 1/27/25

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West Tampa’s historic Main Street is getting a facelift.

Improvements are coming for a once-bustling corridor now considered one of the most dangerous for drivers.

The $300,000 project, funded by the West Tampa Community Redevelopment Area will add new roadway markings, more than 220 on-street parking spaces and improved crosswalks.

Joe Robinson is the Chair of West Tampa CRA Community Advisory Committee.

“This is a slum and blighted area. Don’t be fooled by this frontage here. This is a slum and blighted area. We’re bringing it back. We’re going to get more opportunities,” Robinson said.

Opportunities for West Tampa business owners like Benjamin Wright.

He owns Foster’s Barber Shop on Main Street, and says these upgrades are a good sign for the struggling area.

“It means progress, it means a chance for entrepreneurs such as myself to make a good living here,” Wright told WMNF.

He hopes to see other improvements, like more lights in the area.

“I like to be safe, you know what I mean? I got a business down here, and I want my clients safe as well as myself,” Wright said.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and other city leaders joined Robinson to make the announcement

Work began this month and should be finished by mid-February.