TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority is touting the upcoming Selmon Extension as an engineering marvel that's caught the attention of the international transportation community. 

But it will still be a little while before South Tampa drivers can put it to use — the new projected completion date is summer 2021.

Still, with THEA expecting that 40% of current Gandy Boulevard traffic will use the extension, the agency has been eager to show off its progress and how it will work, providing tours to elected officials and transportation officials from all over the world.

"We've done tours for Singapore and Spain and China and Georgia 14 times, so we've had a lot of people come and tour the reversible express lanes," spokesperson Sue Chrzan said. "We haven't had a lot of people here yet, because it's not open. We have done a lot of VIP tours to show the electeds and to show people kind of what we're doing."

THEA will host a virtual town hall Tuesday to answer questions from the public about the project and other South Tampa projects. You can find details at the Selmon Extension website.

To see the exclusive tour that we got from the upper deck of the extension, watch the video above.