1974: The Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority begins building the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, then called the South Crosstown Expressway.

1976: The expressway's first leg, from Gandy Boulevard to Morgan Street, opens. 1981: The second portion, from Morgan Street to U.S. 301, opens.

1986: The portion to Falkenburg Road and its interchange with Interstate 75 opens.

1995: The expressway turns a financial corner when enough toll money is collected to pay the bonds used to build the road.

1996: The authority's executive director, Ray Speers, resigns after 11 years on the board. Pat McCue, planning and programming director with the state Turnpike District, is hired to replace Speers.

1999: The authority approves a plan to build an elevated, three-lane, reversible roadway in the median of the expressway to connect Brandon and downtown Tampa.

2000: New authority members take office and approve the plan for a second time.

Year In Review

APRIL 13, 2004: Bridge segments collapse in the median of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway after a pier holding the span sinks 11 feet. Two workers are injured and traffic is snarled for days as commuters seek new routes.

JULY 14: Workers discover that a second pier has sunk 1.3 inches. No bridge segments are damaged.

JULY 26: Officials stop work on the elevated road until all piers can be examined.

AUGUST: Investigations show that the pier's design is flawed. Meanwhile, the expressway authority orders staff to in crease safety warnings in the construction zones due to increased auto accidents.

OCT. 14: URS Corp., the construction overseer, agrees to pay $250,000 to repair one of the foundations it designed.

OCT. 25: Pat McCue resigns under pressure as executive director of the authority. Ralph Mervine is later named interim executive director.

JAN. 27: The state Department of Transportation chooses an independent consultant's recommendation for repairing 155 of the project's 218 support piers. Of those, 56 need major repairs, and the rest need less intensive reinforcement.

MARCH 25: Bridge work resumes on the reversible lanes for the first time since July.

APRIL 11: The expressway authority announces it will increase tolls in 2007 … two-and-a-half 2“ years earlier than scheduled … to repay a $215 million bond issue. Repairs are estimated at $99 million.

source Research by ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN