TAMPA - Driving down Nebraska Avenue is still a pothole-dodging thrill ride, but help is coming.

Since mid-June, work crews have been inching northward from Kennedy Boulevard, replacing sidewalks and drainage, and ripping up asphalt to streamline the road and make room for the new surface. Currently, workers are concentrating from Palm Avenue to just north of Columbus Drive.

The $11 million state project will replace three miles of the highway from Kennedy to Hillsborough Avenue when finished a year from now.

With the new surface comes a new look:

•Nebraska will go from four lanes to three. A center turn lane will be bordered by one lane in each direction, north and south. The state Department of Transportation thinks this will help the traffic flow because drivers won't hold up traffic while making left turns. Buses making frequent stops will be a problem, though.

•Bicycle paths from 3 to 5 feet wide will run along both sides of Nebraska.

•Crosswalks at 12 intersections with traffic lights will get a faux-brick treatment.

•Traffic signals that hang from wires at Scott Street, Lake Avenue and Osborne Avenue will be replaced with signals attached to metal arms that can stand up to hurricanes.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib .com.