GANDY - The prospect of an elevated extension of the Selmon Crosstown Expressway has people talking in South Tampa.

At a meeting last week, the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, which is proposing the road, unveiled a rendering of the roughly 30-foot-high roadway.

Many local business owners said they would lose customers if they had to endure more construction. For the past two years, Gandy Boulevard has been under construction as workers reconfigure the road to include medians, turn lanes and other additions.

The proposed raised roadway would allow motorists to bypass the existing Gandy Boulevard to get to downtown Tampa, MacDill Air Force Base or the Gandy Bridge. That, in turn, would limit access to Gandy Boulevard stores.

The authority has held meetings the past six months about the proposed extension, which would need government approvals and, if ultimately approved, is years away from breaking ground.

After the story posted on TBO.com, readers posted thoughts on the proposed road. Here are a few of those comments:

"This really needs to be done. Why they never expanded the Crosstown to the Gandy Bridge when they first built it never made sense."

Posted by Stinger2

"As a local resident I cannot wait until this is built. This area is one of the ugliest around - an elevated roadway would add some drama to the landscape. We cannot allow a few local businesses to infringe on our rights to deal with congestion."

Posted by gmellish

"So why didn't they think of this before spending the last 2 years mucking up Gandy with "improvements" and just what are these "improvements" supposed to be accomplishing other than making Gandy dangerous, congested and ugly?"

Posted by jeffegator

"Let me get this straight... You want to tax the citizens of Hillsborough County for the 100 mil it costs to build a driveway for the people that work in Tampa but live in Saint Pete (and don't pay for it) so they can have a few mins more off the roads??"

Posted by Akela57

"Hooray! As a S Tpa permanent resident ... I am very excited to see this completed! What the businesses on Gandy need to realize is because of ALL the traffic (not just construction) keeps locals from using their businesses. If you look on both sides from Dale Mabry to West Shore on Gandy it's not like it is a lot of Mom & Pop businesses that are being hurt. I am very excited to see this overhead completed."

Posted by lbemis

"The wanton disregard for legitimate and good businesses on Gandy is troubling. There's a city-wide anti-local-business attitude in this town. Look what the Crosstown did to Adamo. If it is built over these businesses' legitimate concerns, they should be compensated and their tax rates slashed."

Posted by genewells