Gridlocked I-75 corridor gets safer

Every weekday morning and evening, nearly 10,000 commuters cram onto Interstate 75 between Fowler Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Construction projects along that stretch of highway compound rush hour traffic, giving motorists a cluttered vista of flashing signs, barricades, shifted lanes and what seems like an endless line of vehicles in front of them.

The frequent backups frustrate motorists. But what the construction and the traffic jams haven't caused is more car crashes.

The number of vehicle accidents on I-75 from Bruce B. Downs to Fowler has been dropping for five years, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

FDOT recorded 254 crashes in 2007, compared with 102 in 2011. From 2007-11, there were six fatal crashes in the area.

A weak economy could contribute to the decreasing number of crashes, said FDOT spokeswoman Kristen Carson.

"There is a nationwide trend that crashes are down for the last few years because there are fewer cars on the roads," Carson said.

Last year, there was a daily average of 83,000 vehicles on the 10 miles of interstate running through Temple Terrace and New Tampa. In 2010, the average daily number of motorists was 82,000; in 2009, the average was 90,500.

The transportation agency acknowledges that although the number of crashes and the volume of traffic have declined, even a fender-bender can wreak havoc on the rush-hour commute.

John McShaffrey, spokesman for FDOT construction projects in Hillsborough County, said a minor accident Wednesday morning on I-75, coupled with a contractor running behind schedule last week, snarled traffic more than usual.

The Wesley Chapel area, just a few miles north on I-75, contributes to the morning and evening traffic jams, he said. The limited number of lanes on Bruce B. Downs can't handle the volume, he said.

Sometimes congestion is so bad in that part of the county that traffic backs up as far south as Interstate 4, he said.

"When we do have backups like that out of the area we're describing, it's because there's not enough capacity," McShaffrey said.

The transportation department is working on that, but it's going to take some time.

Three projects to widen the current four lanes of north- and southbound I-75 to six to eight lanes are expected to be completed this year. The work includes exit ramps on I-275 and State Road 56 in Pasco County.

A fourth project, widening I-75 from Fowler Avenue to S.R. 56, won't be completed until 2016. The total cost of construction is $169 million.

Work is also ongoing on widening Bruce B. Downs, which is being overseen by the county. Construction on a 3.5-mile section from south of Palm Springs Boulevard to south of Pebble Creek Drive began in January 2010 and will be finished by late this year.

Work on two more segments of the road, a 3.6-mile stretch from Bearss Avenue to Palm Springs Boulevard and a 1.5-mile section from Pebble Creek Drive to County Line Road, won't begin until 2013 and 2014.

The Bruce B. Downs expansion will cost $80 million. During the first phase of construction, about 15 million cubic feet of earth has been moved, 2 million square feet of new pavement has been laid down, and an average of 575 barricades daily have been placed on the road, according to the county.

The construction and traffic in the area could remind commuters of Malfunction Junction, the nickname of the tangle of exit ramps that converge on I-275 where I-4 ends near downtown Tampa. Traffic frequently ground to a standstill in the area before new ramps were built and lanes were widened in 2008.

McShaffrey said the I-75 and Bruce B. Downs projects are not comparable to what commuters experienced at Malfunction Junction.

"That was a problem around the clock," McShaffrey said of how the I-275 and I-4 interchange appeared four years ago. "This is not. During midday, weekends and weekday nights, the I-75 area flows pretty well."