Growth is the defining fact of southern Florida’s 14th Congressional District — and the two questions Riverview residents ask most are “does new construction pay its way?” and “when does Big Bend stop being a parking lot?” Verified answers to both, sourced to the county’s fee schedules and FDOT project records.
What New Development Pays: Impact and Mobility Fees
Hillsborough charges one-time fees collected before a building permit issues, meant to make new construction fund the capacity it consumes:
- Mobility fee (roads and transportation, replacing the old transportation impact fee): for a single-family detached home, the current schedule (effective October 1, 2022) runs from $8,178 (under 1,500 sq ft, urban district) to $14,938 (2,500+ sq ft, rural district).
- School impact fee: from $1,645 for the smallest homes to $10,976 for 3,400+ sq ft, per the county’s most recent published schedule.
- Park and fire fees add more on top (amounts vary; the county’s consolidated schedule governs).
For a mid-size (1,800–2,499 sq ft) urban-district home, mobility ($9,183) plus school ($8,227) alone exceed $17,000 before park and fire fees. Note for accuracy hunters: the county’s March 2026 fee update (Resolution RS25-111) changed water/wastewater utility fees only — mobility and school schedules are unchanged since their listed effective dates.
The policy question — whether those fees actually keep pace with school overcrowding and road strain in the fastest-growing corridor in the county — is exactly the kind of accountability question this campaign exists to press.
Big Bend Road: What’s Done, What’s Underway, What’s Next
The SERP for “Big Bend construction” is a mess because three different projects share the name. Here they are, separated:
- FINISHED — the I-75 interchange rebuild (FDOT project 424513-3): new and expanded ramps, Big Bend widened from 4 to 6 lanes between Covington Garden Drive and Simmons Loop, rebuilt bridges, pedestrian and transit facilities. An $81.7M design-build developed with the county — all construction completed March 8, 2025. If your map app still shows cones there, it’s out of date.
- UNDER CONSTRUCTION — Simmons Loop to US-301 (FDOT 443428-1/448985-1): adding travel lanes on Big Bend and rebuilding the US-301/Big Bend intersection in concrete. $58.4M, started August 2025, expected completion late 2027. This is the work you’re driving through today.
- STILL IN DESIGN — the western segment (county-led): widening ~0.75 mile of Big Bend from US-41 to Covington Garden Drive from 4 to 6 lanes. $25.2M, design completing in 2026, construction projected to finish mid-2029, with more than $12M in expected FDOT contribution.
US-301: The Corridor Scorecard
- FINISHED (2021): the 3.8-mile widening to six lanes from SR-674 (Sun City Center Blvd) to Balm Road (FDOT 415489-3, ~$49M).
- UNDER CONSTRUCTION: the new concrete intersection at US-301 and Gibsonton Drive plus repaving from Whitt Road to Rivercrest Drive (FDOT 443427-1, $24.9M, began January 2025, expected completion summer 2026).
- FUTURE: the Wimauma/Balm-area stretch between SR-674 and Gibsonton Drive is still in FDOT’s project development and environment (PD&E) study stage — no construction funding or date yet. That gap is where federal-aid advocacy matters most.
Who pays: US-301 is a state road, so its projects are FDOT-funded; the interchange was an FDOT design-build in partnership with the county; the county’s own Big Bend widening leans on impact/mobility fees plus state contributions. The federal-aid layer that flows through FDOT is set by Congress — the infrastructure fight John Peters has written about since day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much are impact fees in Hillsborough County?
For a new single-family home: mobility fees run about $8,178–$14,938 depending on size and urban/rural district (schedule effective October 1, 2022), school impact fees run $1,645–$10,976 by size, and park and fire fees add more. A mid-size urban home pays over $17,000 in mobility and school fees alone.
Is the Big Bend Road construction finished?
Partly. The $81.7M I-75 interchange rebuild (including 4-to-6-lane widening from Covington Garden Drive to Simmons Loop) finished in March 2025. The $58.4M segment from Simmons Loop to US-301 is under construction until roughly late 2027, and the western US-41-to-Covington segment is still in design, projected to finish by mid-2029.
When will the US-301 construction in Riverview be done?
The current work — a concrete intersection at Gibsonton Drive plus repaving from Whitt Road to Rivercrest Drive — began January 2025 and is expected to finish in summer 2026, per FDOT. The earlier six-laning from Sun City Center Boulevard to Balm Road finished in 2021.
What is a mobility fee?
Hillsborough’s one-time charge on new development for the off-site road improvements that development necessitates — it replaced the county’s old transportation impact fees and is collected before permit issuance under Chapter 40 of the county code.
Did Hillsborough raise impact fees in 2026?
The March 2026 update (Resolution RS25-111) raised water and wastewater utility fees only. The residential mobility fee schedule has been in effect since October 1, 2022, and the school impact fee schedule since its 2020 adoption, per the county’s impact-fee pages.
Growth Should Pay Its Way — and Deliver
Impact fees are the deal: growth funds capacity. Whether the roads and schools actually arrive on schedule is the accountability half — and it’s why this site tracks the federal funding fights behind every corridor. See where John Peters stands, and who’s on your ballot.