Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

The housing boom in southern Hillsborough is ongoing. There are already traffic problems in Gibsonton, Riverview, Bloomingdale, and FishHawk:

Between 5:30 and 6 p.m. most weekdays, southbound traffic backs up almost a half-mile onto Interstate 75 at the Gibsonton Drive exit…

Traffic engineers are aware of how dysfunctional the Gibsonton exit has become, but said no fixes are planned because more pressing problems are in line for funding.

This year the state plans to address one problem interchange, at I-75 at Big Bend Road, several miles south of the Gibsonton exit. It plans to install a traffic signal on Big Bend where morning commuters turn left onto the northbound ramp.

I drive by here often during the morning commute. It’s where that woman got smashed by the dump truck. The westbound turning lane to get on the interstate is backed up for at least a mile. Frustrated drivers go past the lane, and make illegal U-turns under the interstate, saving time, but making the whole thing pretty dangerous. I avoid that by taking US 41. There are lights on 41, but there seems to be much less traffic.

But the southbound Gibsonton exit pushes the aggravation factor to an even greater level. Local motorists say it has been that way for a couple of years.

County planners say Riverview’s population swelled from 32,000 people in 2000 to 53,000 in 2005, for an average annual growth rate of 10.5 percent, the highest in the county.

Gibsonton experienced a 7 percent annual growth rate, from 7,500 people in 2000 to 10,500 in 2005.

Meanwhile, traffic on the interstate near Gibsonton exceeded those growth rates, according to state Department of Transportation traffic counts.

Average daily traffic counts on I-75 just north of the Gibsonton exit show a 12.5 percent annual growth rate between 2000 and 2005, climbing from 61,500 vehicles to 111,000 vehicles over that five-year period.

“Its not hard to figure out what the problem is,” said Bob Clifford, who oversees planning at the DOTs Tampa office. “Anybody can see it.”

For most of its length the exit ramp at Gibsonton is a single lane, and most drivers get stuck waiting for the traffic light to change at Gibsonton Drive before they can head toward Riverview and Bloomingdale…

Adding two lanes to the ramp would solve the problem. The estimated $500,000 needed to do the job, though, isn’t being budgeted by the DOT because other projects are more pressing, Clifford said.

The exit has averaged 14 crashes a year since 2004. Only one was fatal - a crash last year attributed to a drunken driver who ran a red light.

DOT officials said they are concerned about traffic backing up onto the interstate, but say the accident data doesnt justify an immediate improvement…

In all likelihood, though, rush-hour drivers will keep piling up at the exit for the foreseeable future.

So at least you know. Just get used to it.

Oh, and Sun City Center is next.