I’ve been writing this column about roads and traffic for more than a year now, which has resulted in a lot of feedback. Some of the comments and letters I’ve received have been nearly beyond belief – until I check them out.
Commuters generally complain about it taking longer to get out of their developments than it takes to get from their South Shore entrance ramps on Interstate 75 to their exits in Tampa, Brandon and Bradenton.
I know it’s true. Not long ago I spent 45 minutes traveling down Boyette Road from Balm-Riverview Road to the I-75 on-ramp at Gibsonton Drive, a distance of less than six miles. At the time, I had thought taking Balm-Riverview from Big Bend Road would be faster than taking U.S. 301, and it was, until I realized I would then have to go west on Boyette through what is now the second-most congested (and accident-prone) intersection in Hillsborough County, according to the sheriff’s office.
And, depending upon the time of day I leave my house in Summerfield, it could take me longer to reach the southbound I-75 ramp, which is exactly 1.3 miles from my driveway, than to drive the 11 miles along the interstate to our Ruskin office at Sun Point.
Regular readers of this column know I advocate back roads whenever possible, and often offer tips I’ve learned since I moved here in the 1970s. But the back roads are fast disappearing. And there are times when you have no choice but to sit behind the wheel for long stretches of time.
Now, it’s one thing to have to fight traffic to my company’s Ruskin or Brandon office, or to get my 9-year-old to school or swimming or cheerleading or some other activity. Being late for these things – or having it take two hours to grocery shop instead of just the 30 minutes you spend in the stores – is one thing. Traveling through this maze in an emergency is quite another.
Recently, I realized two things very clearly: one, you can’t “get to here from there” easily during a real emergency, and two, this isn’t just relevant to South Shore’s rapid growth; it’s definitely county-wide. (In theory I already knew that, but because I time my trips out of South Shore so carefully, it doesn’t always seem that way.)
Recently, my daughter, not my 9-year-old, the grown daughter with four children, including a son in the 82nd Airborne Division’s Special Operations, had surgery in Tampa. Now, I’m not a fan of drive-by surgery anyway; especially when you get sent home two hours after waking up from general anesthesia, but that’s the way things are done today.
I knew I was in trouble the minute the valet brought our car to the door and she stepped from the wheelchair into the car. I figured the pain-killers in the anesthesia would last about an hour.
I looked at the clock. It was 5:30 p.m., and cars were lined up on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard as far as I could see in every direction. By the time we got to the entrance ramp to I-275, the turn-line was so long I decided to avoid it and cut across 15th Street to 22nd, straight through the College Hill development heading for the 22nd Street Bridge.
Now I know the downtown area pretty well to have been able to do this, but still, it was almost an hour before we saw the “Gibsonton 11 miles” sign that greets us to South Shore on U.S. 41.
It was a quick 55 mph pace from there to Riverview Drive where I managed to pick up my 9-year-old at my son’s and head for the drugstore.
Avoiding the line of 12 to 15 cars at the drive-through, I left the 9-year-old in charge of my heavily-sedated grown daughter, who by now was at least talking with a little more sense than she had been an hour before, and went inside to stand behind the 20 or so people lined up at the drop-off counter.
I am not an impatient person. In fact, I pride myself on being able to roll with the punches and say stuff like “oh well, things happen” pretty much all the time.
I did not feel that way on this trip.
Even though I did not choose to wait for the medications, and instead had someone else pick them up, it was a full 2½-hour ride before I got my daughter to my couch.
It makes me wonder if the county will eventually sink from the weight of the cars or will enough really good, convenient public transportation ever be put on our highways to encourage people to use it?
I, for one, will examine the candidates’ positions on roads and transportation before November.
It’s an important issue that will have to be solved.

Send your questions and concerns about roads and traffic to 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Penny Fletcher is editor of The Sun.