TAMPA, Fla. — If you regularly find yourself driving from Tampa to St. Pete or vice versa, there is big news: The new Howard Frankland Bridge will open next week.

The Florida Department of Transportation confirmed that with Real Time Traffic Expert Tim Wronka.

The plan is to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new bridge on Monday, March 24.

Then, the goal is to switch traffic over Monday night into Tuesday morning, weather permitting.

That means drivers will be on the new bridge on Tuesday morning, March 25.

The new bridge will be for southbound I-275 traffic into St. Petersburg. The current southbound span will be flipped northbound into Tampa.

The old northbound span will be demolished later.

The new bridge will include four general use lanes. It will also have four new tolled express lanes, two in each direction.

In addition, a multi-use trail for bicyclists and pedestrians is under construction.

The new bridge is about 10 feet higher than the current bridge built in the 1990s and will be the biggest bridge in Florida by square footage. 

FDOT says about 250,000 cars cross the Howard Frankland daily