Latest news with #Frankland
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Why residents in a Texas city will receive earlier hurricane evacuation notices this year
GALVESTON, Texas – As the Atlantic basin hurricane season begins, Galveston officials are alerting residents to a key change they may notice if a tropical cyclone threatens the region. Instead of issuing evacuation orders 36 hours before the arrival of damaging winds and flooding, authorities now plan to extend that window to 60 hours in advance of a hurricane's projected impacts. The change, while not permanent, is being instituted due to an extensive construction project along the region's primary evacuation route - Interstate 45. According to the city's emergency management, the enhanced timeline is designed to ensure a more efficient evacuation process, given the potential for delays along the interstate. The region's main thoroughfare is undergoing a multi-billion-dollar enhancement that aims to not only widen the interstate and make it more flood-resistant. Though the roadway remains open, Emergency Management Coordinator Byron Frankland is concerned that a stalled vehicle or accident during a mass evacuation could bring traffic to a near standstill, potentially adding hours to the process of moving tens of thousands of people inland. Know Your Zone: Texas Hurricane Evacuation Zones Evacuations from the threat of a direct strike of a hurricane are rare, with locals only remembering a handful of times that notices have been issued. A significant threat to the Southeast Texas coastline means not only do the 52,000 permanent residents of Galveston Island have to leave, but also millions of others in the country's second-most populous state. Large hurricanes such as Rita, Ike and Harvey forced millions of Texans to seek higher ground, resulting in hours of backups and delays along highways – a scene that Frankland wants to try to avoid with the 60-hour notice. Hurricane Survey Highlights Surprising Results For Those In Impact Zones To assist vulnerable populations, Texas offers the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry, a free program that allows residents who may require extra help during a disaster to register in advance. While enrollment in the STEAR program does not guarantee services during an emergency, it gives planners an idea of the needs for specialized resources, such as wheelchair-accessible buses and medical transports. Residents can sign up for the STEAR program online or by dialing 211 and officials encourage those with needs to do so now, before a storm hits. Frankland anticipates the expanded 60-hour evacuation window will remain in effect through at least 2026, when the Interstate 45 upgrades are expected to reach a point where the route can better handle a mass article source: Why residents in a Texas city will receive earlier hurricane evacuation notices this year
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new Howard Frankland Bridge opens soon. People once protested the original span.
When the idea for a third bridge across Tampa Bay first bubbled up before the start of World War II, many objected. The Courtney Campbell Causeway, originally called the Ben T. Davis Causeway, already linked Tampa and Clearwater. The Gandy crossed from Tampa to St. Petersburg. The toll operators that dominated both existing bridges didn't like the idea of a third thoroughfare pulling away competition. Locals in the late 1930s also lamented the cost, saying another way across the water would be a waste of taxpayer money. Some called it 'a blow to private investment' and 'a hindrance to navigation.' Others, according to Times archives, even worried about 'a tidal obstruction that could convert large areas into mud flats.' By 1939, the idea was dead. Then a tire salesman named W. Howard Frankland came around and changed some minds. The bridge that bears his name finally opened on Jan. 15, 1960. While we wait for the newest span of the bridge Tampa Bay knows so well, here's a look back at the history. Frankland was born in Tennessee as the son of a horse buggy salesman. He moved to Tampa in 1925, where he founded Pioneer Tire and Rubber Products Inc. He spent some time as a banker and also was named Gasparilla king in 1950. Frankland was a member of the State Road Board when he proposed a new bridge to cross Tampa Bay in 1953, reviving the idea that had failed more than a decade before. The bridge would be a path for beachgoers to reach the white sands of Pinellas County, and then carry families back over to shop in Tampa. When the Howard Frankland Bridge finally opened in 1960, locals hoped it would fix a problem the area is dealing with currently: a 'population explosion.' 'Our growth has been breathtaking,' wrote a then-St. Petersburg Times columnist in January 1960. 'New housing has gone up at a rate even the most optimistic persons would've regarded as fantastic 10 years ago; this has been accompanied by extensive commercial development — palmetto scrub fields have been turned into shopping centers, multi-million dollar manufacturing plants have been erected, hotels and motels have been constructed and improved." Even though the Gandy Bridge had already gotten a second span at that point, raising the number of lanes to four, it wasn't enough to carry all of the people that flowed back and forth between Hillsborough and Pinellas. As people stewed in traffic on the Gandy, one St. Petersburg Times columnist wrote in 1960 that the sight of another bridge being constructed across the water 'offered promise of true relief.' Frankland's name was bestowed upon the structure as a thank you for his advocacy. The opening day celebrations weren't as flashy as those for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1954, which included a nationwide naming contest and 'bridge beauty' models to represent various nearby counties. But there was still fanfare. Then-Governor LeRoy Collins delivered an address before leading a line of more than 1,000 motorists over the bridge from Tampa to St. Petersburg and back. Frankland's wife delivered a dedication to the structure and his young grandchildren cut the ribbon. Frankland's four brothers traveled from across the country for a special family reunion. Newspaper columns following the event mostly praised the bridge, which not only provided a new way to get around but would also link Tampa to the national interstate system. But one headline in the Tampa Tribune provided foreshadowing that won't surprise any locals reading this today: 'Traffic jams new bridge.' Information from the Tampa Bay Times archive was used in this story.
