Proposed app would cut motorists’ wait at MacDill gates

The Tampa Tribune / TBO.com

Military News

---

TAMPA — Anyone who needs to get onto MacDill Air Force Base knows how long it can take to get through the gates.

Especially Dale Mabry. At rush hour.

But the 15,000 vehicles passing through the base’s four gates every day not only create long waits for those headed to MacDill, they also create a ripple of vehicle congestion throughout South Tampa.

Now help is on the way.

The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, which oversees the Selmon Expressway, has developed “via511,” a smartphone application providing near real-time data on travel times for primary and alternative routes onto the base. In addition to the Dale Mabry gate, vehicles travel through the Tanker Way, Bayshore and MacDill gates, depending on the time and day of the week.

The app specifically was designed for MacDill users to give the wait time from Gandy Boulevard south to each of the four base access points, according to authority spokeswoman Susan Chrzan.

“Install the via511 app on your smartphone and we’ll tell you how long the wait is at each of the MacDill gates,” according to the via511 Web page. “No more guesswork!”

There’s no catch, the website says.

“The app is free to download and free to use. You get better information by sharing your smartphone’s location data — that’s the whole deal.”

The app is part of a larger effort to study the flow of vehicles headed to the base to reduce wait times and the effect on surrounding neighborhoods, Chrzan said.

It was developed as the result of an ongoing traffic study conducted by general engineering consultant HNTB Corp. that examined issues at MacDill access gates during morning rush hours.

“The peak time queues back up from the gates into surrounding Tampa neighborhoods and add to congestion there due to school and commuter traffic,” said Chrzan.

Tampa, she added, is a “cooperative partner in exploring potential recommendations.”

One recommendation — adding a right turn lane and other intersection improvements at the Tanker Way gate — already has been approved, said Vik Bhide, Tampa’s chief traffic management engineer.

Now the city is looking for ways to pay the $300,000 needed to implement the recommendation, Bhide said.

The MacDill Gate Queue Study “is looking at a variety of traffic management options,” said Capt. Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for the 6th Air Mobility Wing, the MacDill host unit. “The intent is to reduce wait times at the gates as well as improve mobility in the general South Tampa area.”

The main role of the base, however, is participating in the smartphone app program, Brown said.

The app has been beta-tested by base personnel for more than a month, said Chrzan. The testing, she said, is ongoing and will provide additional data collection for the study, and assess accuracy and user opt-in rates.

While MacDill officials won’t speculate on how well the app will work, Brown said the hope is it will reduce wait times and improve traffic conditions in South Tampa.

“This is a great example of the ongoing community partnerships we have here at MacDill,” Brown said.

But you don’t have to live or work on base — or even be in the military — to use the app. Just search for via511 and download it from the app store location on your smartphone.

The rollout of the custom MacDill gate traffic app cost about $10,000, said Chrzan, adding that the funds were reallocated from HNTB’s fee for the traffic study and by eliminating a less applicable data collection method.

Al Steenson, president of the Gandy Civic Association, which represents residents living near the base, said traffic is not a major headache.

“It is what it is, and our community is very supportive of the military and base itself,” said Steenson. “We have learned to live with it.”

As for the app, Steenson said he is not sure how much it will help.

“This is the first I have heard about it,” he said. “I don’t know that it would have that big an effect.”

Jorge Ugarte, a South Tampa Realtor who presided over the now-dormant Interbay Homeowners Association, has a different take.

“That is a great app,” said Ugarte after learning how it would work. “It is usually the Dale Mabry entrance backed up, all the way back to the Home Depot on Pearl (Avenue). The only thing I know is that traffic is really backed up when something is going on overseas.”

Ugarte said he agreed that those who live near MacDill aren’t overly concerned.

“I’ve lived in South Tampa for 25 years,” he said. “I literally lived 100 feet from the base. Traffic never bothered me and it doesn’t bother most people.”

The MacDill app is just one step the authority is taking in coming months to help handle traffic. Later this year the authority will install message boards on the Selmon Expressway that will provide motorists with the latest traffic information, including at MacDill, as well as Amber and Silver alerts, Chrzan said.

And in September the authority was awarded $17 million by the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct a Connected Vehicle pilot program designed to “make transportation safer, smarter and greener.”

The program would outfit vehicles and roadside equipment with technology so they can communicate with each other about traffic conditions.