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Interstate Travel 'The Easiest Way'

Photo by SUSAN M. GREEN

A vehicle from a side street blocks the left travel lane of Gibsonton Drive as it tries to enter a long line of morning commuters waiting to head north on Interstate 75 to Tampa.

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By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 22, 2007

RIVERVIEW - They don't call it 'interstate' for nothing.

The system of highways that includes Interstate 75 was conceived in the 1930s, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other elected officials floated the idea of a network of limited access, transcontinental superhighways to move people and cargo across the country.

That network wasn't born until 1956, according to a history compiled by the Federal Highway Administration. That's when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act that provided a funding mechanism for the interstate system.

A half-century later, many interstate stretches have evolved into commuter carriers, on which motorists are hoping to make a beeline from their suburban home to a nearby city where they work, dine or shop.

'A lot of people use the interstate for local trips,' said Bob Clifford of the Florida Department of Transportation in Tampa. 'Traffic is like water. You find the easiest way.'

Much has changed, even in the 20 years or so since I-75 pushed through Brandon and south Hillsborough County.

That's why, on weekday mornings, you can find Tampa-bound cars stacked up in the right travel lane of Gibsonton Drive all the way from the I-75 entrance ramp to east of Hagadorn Road as they wait to pull onto the freeway.

A similar scenario happens on Big Bend Road, as motorists block travel lanes to wait their turn to drive on I-75.

During evening rush hour, the tables turn. Cars idle in I-75 travel lanes because exit ramps can't hold everyone wanting to get off the highway.

'You see the backups and bottlenecks on the interstate because of the cross street's inability to absorb all the traffic,' said Clifford, project manager for a study aimed at improving access to I-75 in Hillsborough County.

The two-year study started in January. This year, officials are concentrating on calculating traffic and projecting increases on the stretch from Fletcher Avenue in Tampa south to Ruskin, Clifford said.

Next year, the study will include evaluating suggested solutions to traffic jams caused by population growth, including widening the highway and introducing mass transit features. Solutions might include ramp improvements at existing access points, as well as ramps at new locations.

The DOT is planning to install a traffic signal at Big Bend and I-75 in the next six months, said the department's spokeswoman, Kris Carson.

Clifford said other short-term and intermediate fixes could result from the study. At Big Bend, for example, cars jockey in the same short lane to get on and off the interstate in an interchange design that has become outdated, he said.

'Those are what we call tight diamond interchanges,' he said. 'You don't have enough movement space of the cars.'

Quick fixes for some ramps could include more double-lane approaches, but often those just move the bottlenecks closer to I-75, Clifford noted.

The ongoing I-75 study doesn't focus on quick fixes, though.

'A lot of our focus is, what we do, we don't want it to be thrown away,' Clifford said.

He said state officials want to work closely with county road planners to come up with proposals that dovetail with improvements to thoroughfares such as Big Bend, which is being studied for widening to six lanes.

'It the interstate is not a stand-alone facility,' Clifford said. 'It can only work as well as all the connections to it.'

Highway planners keep up with proposed major developments, such as the mall planned for west of the Big Bend-Interstate 75 interchange, he said. State and county officials are discussing ways to avoid mistakes made in the 1990s, when placement of a mall at I-75 and State Road 60 led to traffic jams on the interstate, Clifford said.

The key is to place mall entrances well away from the interstate ramps, he said.

The I-75 corridor study also will look at the possibility of new access locations, possibly including one suggested by local residents at 19th Avenue in Ruskin. Clifford said research hasn't determined whether a new access would help or hinder congestion at existing interchanges, and he cautioned that federal guidelines require that new interchanges prove beneficial to the interstate system, not fulfill local needs.

Hillsborough County officials have approved intermittent lane closures on three streets in the Riverview-Gibsonton area.

Construction crews will block alternating lanes on Balm-Riverview Road between Duckbill Way and Panther Trace Boulevard through Oct. 12 to replace a stormwater cross drain. Work is authorized between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Workers from Tampa Electric Co. are authorized to block the northbound lane of Kenlake Drive about 3,000 feet south of Fern Hill Drive, as well as the southbound lane of Lincoln Road south of Damfino Lane, to replace power poles. The work is authorized between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. through Oct. 1.

In Apollo Beach, county officials have approved sewer system maintenance work that may affect northbound motorists on Golf and Sea Boulevard between MiraBay Boulevard and Leisey Road. Work is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 19.

GOT A QUESTION?

Do you wonder why two roads come together as they do? Know about a recurring traffic hazard or bottleneck in your South Shore neighborhood or on your commute? Think you know a way to relieve traffic jams? Call Susan Green at (813) 865-1566 or e-mail sgreen@tampatrib.com with suggestions for 'Getting Around.'

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