When Morris Bridge Road needs to close for maintenance or flooding, there are few alternative routes – for a reason
Morris Bridge Road in northeast Hillsborough County is an important corridor connecting Hillsborough with Pasco County neighborhoods to the north.
Morris Bridge also is invisible on the Hillsborough County Watershed Management Master Plan (WMMP) Floodplain map. That’s because the roadway is vulnerable during a 100-year flood, as residents found out when Hurricane Milton struck in 2024.
Looking at the WMMP map of the whole county, the area around the Hillsborough River State Park sticks out. It is completely undeveloped and – in the floodplain map – totally under water.
Hillsborough maintains detailed WMMPs and stormwater models for 17 County watersheds. The 100-year and 500-year floodplains illustrate the flood risk associated with the 100-year and 500-year storm events, as determined by the County WMMP stormwater model results.
Morris Bridge Road traverses the Hillsborough River Watershed – one of the county’s largest. This makes it an important corridor in Hillsborough Public Works’ stormwater inventory. Multiple stormwater drainage systems run beneath the roadway to help move heavy rains to the Hillsborough River.
The floodplain status also explains why there are few alternative routes through the area. Morris Bridge Road stretches more than seven miles from I-75 northeast to Cross Creek Boulevard, with few intersections and no connectivity with other collector roads, which distribute traffic between neighborhood streets and arterial roads (major routes).
As Hillsborough County works to maintain Morris Bridge Road, residents can expect unusually long detours because of the remote nature of the corridor and the importance of the floodplain.
NOTE: WMMP studies do not consider coastal storm surge as a model input. As a result, coastal storm surge flood risk is not reflected in the WMMP 100-year and 500-year floodplains. Refer to the FEMA effective FIRMs to assess your coastal flood risk.
For general information, contact Public Works Customer Service at (813) 635-5400 or PWCustomerResolution@HCFL.gov.