TAMPA, Fla. — An infrastructure plan announced by Florida's governor on Monday at the Howard Frankland Bridge has a goal of solving the bottlenecks of daily traffic.

Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined three priorities identified by the state during his Tampa stop.

1. Continuing work on the Howard Frankland Bridge to improve the connection between Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
2. Improving the downtown Tampa interchange between I-275 and I-4, which the governor says is one of the most congested interchanges in the country.
3. And modernizing the Westshore interchange where delays are common.

Lawmakers say they're investing $560 million in the early phase of that work, but future investments in the Westshore interchange will total more than $1.2 billion.

The governor said the improvements are an answer to the need for the constantly Bay area.

“Everywhere you look, there's a new community being built,” DeSantis said. “That's great, but that also requires us to have the type of infrastructure in place that's going to be able to support that.”

Rep. Chris Sprowls, also at the afternoon event, added, "We realize whether you live in Pasco County, Hillsborough County or any of the surrounding counties, this Westshore interchange matters for you. It matters for your families as you go to work. It matters for the 21 million visitors going through airlines and the tens of thousands of businesses that will benefit from this Westshore interchange."

The changes to Westshore include a full reconfiguration, a four-level interchange and added connections to the Courtney Campbell Causeway, Veterans Expressway, Tampa International Airport and the Howard Frankland.