TAMPA - Just in time for the holidays, motorists leaving Tampa International Airport will get a quicker route to Interstate 275.

A nearly half-mile-long bridge designed to funnel drivers toward Kennedy Boulevard and I-275 - and remove the jostling between lanes - is set to open early this morning.

The two-lane bridge, which reaches 75 feet high at its peak, spans the knot of roads where George Bean Parkway, the airport's entrance and exit, intersects with State Road 60 and West Spruce Street.

The exit long has challenged drivers who have only seconds to figure out which lane to jump to.

"This will cross over everything that's there, and will put drivers onto a loop to where all the traffic is going to I-275 or to Kennedy," said John McShaffrey, a Department of Transportation spokesman.

Also set to open this morning is a second airport exit to take motorists to the Veterans Expressway.

That ramp, along with the flyover bridge, will handle an estimated 15,000 cars daily, with more than half using the bridge, said Jim Jones, director of engineering at the airport.

Eventually, two more lanes will be added to the bridge, connecting drivers directly to southbound I-275, and another new road will funnel motorists toward the Courtney Campbell Parkway.

The bridge is the centerpiece of the state's $205 million reconstruction of the highways outside the airport. The project includes the complete reconstruction of S.R. 60 between I-275 and the Veterans Expressway. Work on S.R. 60 is under way.

The project is set to be finished by May 2010.

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