Not-so-good news for anyone who finds themselves regularly driving along Ashley Drive in Downtown Tampa: The popular drive that passes popular Tampa attractions like the Glazer Children's Museum is now closed at the Polk Street intersection due to construction.
Tampa street, the next street over running parallel with Ashley, just opened again after closing for three weeks at the intersection of Polk Street. Now Ashley Drive will follow suit.
These couple weeks of street closures in Downtown Tampa are due to CSX replacing the railroad tracks that run down the center of Polk Street. The replacement work is expected to finish sometime around May 27.
City officials have created a couple of routes for bypassing the Ashley Drive closure.
If you're heading south on Ashley Drive towards Channelside Drive, detour signs will lead you Eastbound on Cass Street then over to Tampa Street to keep going south.
If you're heading north toward I-275, you'll be detoured eastbound on Madison Street then turned northward onto Florida Avenue.
Those exiting off of I-275 will want to skip the signs for Ashley Drive and take Tampa or Morgan Street to head south into Downtown Tampa.
According to City of Tampa officials, the timing of Downtown traffic signals will be adjusted to accomodate for the Ashley Street closure. For now, expect a little congestion as Downtown traffic adjusts to these changes.
