This morning’s fatal crash on I-4 that tied up westbound traffic for more than six hours would not have happened if the installation of new steel median barriers now going up between 50th Street and the Hillsborough-Polk county line were complete, the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed.
Anthony Boswell, 20, driving a 2001 Hyundai, struck a ‘93 Mercury Grand Marquis in the rear end at about 5:20 a.m. No one quite knows why that happened, but Luis Cordoves, 56, of Orlando was able to bring the Mercury to a stop by the roadside without another wreck.
But Boswell’s Hyundai, with Alexis Morris, 18, in the passenger seat, spun across the median strip and struck a westbound tractor-trailer on the left side hard enough to flip the truck over and block traffic. Boswell died at the scene; Morris was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition. Neither wore seat belts.
The 22-mile median barrier project should be complete in that area near the Alexander Street exit in three weeks according to the DOT; another one is going up in the median of I-75 through Hillsborough county, initially in the area of interchanges.
It was the first fatal crash on I-4 this year.
A six-month effort to intensify traffic enforcement efforts by the Florida Highway Patrol and other police agencies effectively ended a rough spate of fatal crashes that opened 2005. There were four deaths in all of 2004, but there were 16 in the first half of 2005 alone.
They called the campaign “Drive 4 Life,” and it worked well. Tickets were issued by the thousands, and fatalities dropped to two in the second half of last year.
Many of 2005’s fatal wrecks were crossover crashes like Monday’s. Educational and publicity campaigns supported the enforcement efforts, but the federal grant that paid for that has been depleted.
But it was the traffic enforcement that really did the job - motorcycles, unmarked cars and lots of patrol cars were supported by aircraft spotters.
Whether the people in the Hyundai might have died on striking the median is an open question. Without seat belts, it’s surely possible. But the lethal second collision westbound, would not have happened, traffic officials said.
Traffic was still being detoured onto a parallel service road at noon, while a state Department of Environmental Regulation crew cleaned up spilled diesel fuel from the scene. It was expected to be flowing normally by 2 p.m.
The U.S. Department of Transportation rates the worst highway bottlenecks in America each year, and notes to no one’s amazement that traffic congestion almost everywhere is getting worse, not better.
The report on the Dirty Dozen also says that today we can drop the term “rush HOUR.” The average amount of time people spend stuck in traffic per year has grown from 16 hours in 1982 to 47 hours in 2003, that’s more than an entire work week spent staring at traffic and listening to ... whatever on the radio.
In many cities, the window in which commuters likely will find congestion, has grown from 4.7 to 7.1 hours a day. Check out the Department of Transportation table below, with special attention to No. 16, but do note that things _ thanks to ongoing state Department of Transportation construction on our own special place _ are getting better and will soon be much better _ until, thanks to unchecked growth, we overload it once again.
The Worst Bottlenecks in the United States:
Rank
City
Intersection (“cute nickname”)
Annual Hours of Delay (in thousands)
1. Los Angeles
U.S. 101 (Ventura Freeway) at I-405 Interchange
27,144
2. Houston
I-610 at I-10 Interchange (West)
25,181
3. Chicago
I-90/94 at I-290 Interchange (“Circle Interchange”)
25,068
4. Phoenix
I-10 at SR 51/SR 202 Interchange (“Mini-Stack”)
22,805
5. Los Angeles
I-405 (San Diego Freeway) at I-10 Interchange
22,792
6. Atlanta
I-75 south of the I-85 Interchange
21,045
7. Washington (D.C.-Maryland-Virginia)
I-495 at I-270 Interchange
19,429
8. Los Angeles
I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway) at I-5 Interchange
18,606
9. Los Angeles
I-405 (San Diego Freeway) at I-605 Interchange
18,606
10. Atlanta
I-285 at I-85 Interchange (“Spaghetti Junction”)
17,072
11. Chicago
I-94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) at I-90 Skyway Split (Southside)
16,713
12. Phoenix
I-17 (Black Canyon Freeway) at I-10 Interchange (“The Stack”) to Cactus Road
16,310
13. Los Angeles
I-5 (Santa Ana Freeway) at SR 22/SR 57 Interchange (“Orange Crush”)
16,304
14. Providence, R.I.
I-95 at I-195 Interchange
15,340
15. Washington (D.C.-Maryland-Virginia)
I-495 at I-95 Interchange
15,035
16. Tampa, Fla.
I-275 at I-4 Interchange (“Malfunction Junction”)
14,371
17. Atlanta
I-285 at I-75 Interchange
14,333
18. Seattle
I-5 at I-90 Interchange
14,306
19. Chicago
I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway) Between Exits 17b and 23a
14,009
20. Houston
I-45 (Gulf Freeway) at U.S. 59 Interchange
13,944
21. San Jose, Calif.
U.S. 101 at I-880 Interchange
12,249
22. Las Vegas
U.S. 95 west of the I-15 Interchange (“Spaghetti Bowl”)
11,152
23. San Diego
I-805 at I-15 Interchange
10,992
24. Cincinnati
I-75, from Ohio River Bridge to I-71 Interchange
10,088
Hey, it could be worse: We could live in L.A. For the full report, see:
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/congestion_report/chapter3.htm#3_2
Traffic.com, the company that supplies real-time data from its roadside sensors to this area’s 511 traffic-warning system, now offers all of its “premium’’ pay services to commuters for free.
From its web site, the company provides custom-designed traffic reports on demand for individuals’ commutes by telephone at (866) MYTRAFC. The company also provides custom traffic alerts to commuters’ telephones and e-mail accounts, including mobile e-mail accounts.
Those services once ranged from $4.99 to $9.99 a month. They’re now supported by advertising. Traffic.com says it currently logs more than one million unique site visitors each month.
Traffic.com supplies its services to consumers in 35 major U.S. metropolitan areas.
Commuters interested in subscribing to any of the services should visit the company’s website, http://www.traffic.com, where they can personalize and save their daily commutes or travel routes.
As much as we complain about commuting in the Tampa Bay area, it’s good to remember that last year Tampa’s downtown was designated one of the nation’s “Best Workplaces for Commuters” districts by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Really.
It is the only downtown so designated in Florida, and one of only 16 municipalities awarded the distinction. The award is based on an analysis of many amenities provided commuters downtown, and was awarded based on an application submitted by the Tampa Downtown Partnership’s Karen Kress.
As part of its comprehensive commuter benefits program, Tampa’s Downtown promotes commuting options and support services such as carpool and van-pooling programs with heavily subsidized vehicles and a free Emergency Ride Home program, administered by Bay Area Commuter Services.
There are also bike racks and shower facilities, reduced fares on the downtown circulating trolley and streetcars, a tele-commuting program and a point person to fields transportation-related inquiries.
According to Kevin Tingley, EPA program manager, the effects of incentive programs like these are dramatic:
“If just half of all U.S. employees were covered under commuter benefits such as these, traffic and air pollution could be cut by the equivalent of taking 15 million cars off the roads every year, saving American workers about $12 billion in fuel costs. That’s both cleaner air and real savings for families.”
Individual employers committed to improving quality of life issues for employees and easing congestion and air pollution can also apply to become a Best Workplaces for Commuters company. Thus far, Hillsborough County and the law firm Hill Ward & Henderson have received the designation.
Currently, downtown Tampa has more than 51,000 daily workers, plus some 400 people who now live in the core area. More than 6,000 students from kindergarten through doctoral programs come downtown for their educational needs, and it is evolving as an entertainment destination. Kress said that by 2008, downtown would have more than 5,500 new residences.
The downtown partnership provides downtown guides, vehicle assistance and litter control teams, and promotes downtown and its businesses. See: http://www.tampasdowntown.com, and http://www.tampabayrideshare.org.
As much as we complain about commuting in the Tampa Bay area, it’s good to remember that last year Tampa’s downtown was designated one of the nation’s “Best Workplaces for Commuters” districts by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Really.
It is the only downtown so designated in Florida, and one of only 16 municipalities awarded the distinction. The award is based on an analysis of many amenities provided commuters downtown, and was awarded based on an application submitted by the Tampa Downtown Partnership’s Karen Kress.
As part of its comprehensive commuter benefits program, Tampa’s Downtown promotes commuting options and support services such as carpool and van-pooling programs with heavily subsidized vehicles and a free Emergency Ride Home program, administered by Bay Area Commuter Services.
There are also bike racks and shower facilities, reduced fares on the downtown circulating trolley and streetcars, a tele-commuting program and a point person to fields transportation-related inquiries.
According to Kevin Tingley, EPA program manager, the effects of incentive programs like these are dramatic:
“If just half of all U.S. employees were covered under commuter benefits such as these, traffic and air pollution could be cut by the equivalent of taking 15 million cars off the roads every year, saving American workers about $12 billion in fuel costs. That’s both cleaner air and real savings for families.”
Individual employers committed to improving quality of life issues for employees and easing congestion and air pollution can also apply to become a Best Workplaces for Commuters company. Thus far, Hillsborough County and the law firm Hill Ward & Henderson have received the designation.
Currently, downtown Tampa has more than 51,000 daily workers, plus some 400 people who now live in the core area. More than 6,000 students from kindergarten through doctoral programs come downtown for their educational needs each day, and increasingly, an entertainment destination. Kress said that by 2008, downtown would have more than 5,500 new residences as well.
The downtown partnership provides downtown guides, vehicle assistance and litter control teams, and promotes downtown and its businesses. See: http://www.tampasdowntown.com, and http://www.tampabayrideshare.org.
I love sleeping in a Florida rainstorm. Well, not actually in the rain. In a bed, under a roof, cozy and dry while sheets of rain pummel my windows. That’s an Ivory soap moment – 99 and 44/100 percent pure pleasure.
Driving in a Florida rainstorm, however, is not my idea of fun. One minute you’re bopping along with rain sprinkles on your windshield, the next instant you’re deluged with enough rain to raise the lake levels six inches, and you’re lucky if you can see two feet in front of you.
Which, amazingly, doesn’t stop most of our Florida motorists. In fact, it seldom even slows them down. They plow nose-first into that blinding rainstorm with more guts, confidence and determination than professional bullriders focused on an eight-second ride (you know who you are).
I was thinking about that the other day as I, like a sheep, was barreling right along with the other drivers during one of those pelting rains. It seemed safer to stay with the flow than try to slow down and pull off the road and get rearended in the process. Yeah, right, that’s it.
The scenario got me to thinking about what ingredients make up a Florida highway. I know in cold climates, such as Montana (where they only have two seasons – winter and July), they add materials to make the highway resistant to damage from freezing. In places like Death Valley, Calif., the roads are resistant to damage from sizzling heat. So, do they add anything to Florida roads to help them bear up under excessive water?
Not really wanting to lie in bed awake all night debating the question or, worse yet, falling asleep and dreaming about roads (unless, of course, they are leading to Hawaii), I talked with Christine McDonald, public information officer with the Florida Department of Transportation. She said Florida’s roadways are designed to remove water from the driving surface as quickly and as safely as possible. Also, the roads use mixtures that include anti-strip agents or hydrated lime that are tested at the design stage to ensure that they meet the minimum moisture requirement.
She didn’t say anything about roads being designed to withstand speedmania, but we have that under control, right? Right.
More red-light enlightenment
In The Loop reader Chris Dohrmann wondered what the traffic laws say about turning left on a red light if you are on a one-way street with two lanes and are turning onto a one-way street with two lanes.
Our ever-patient answer man, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Larry Coggins said yes, that is the one exception to the turn right on red rule. You can turn left on red if both streets are one-way and the usual three conditions apply. Those conditions, you’ll remember if you read my previous column, are 1) the motorist comes to a complete stop; 2) there is no oncoming traffic; and 3) there is no sign saying you can’t turn on red. Coggins said it doesn’t make any difference how many lanes the one-way streets have.
Current roadwork
u Fletcher Avenue at 42nd Avenue and North Palm Drive in the USF area, eastbound/westbound lane will be closed during daytime only for roadway widening/improvements and signal work. The completion day is Aug. 15.
u Dale Mabry at Hudson Lane will be closed 24 hours a day through Feb. 16 while drilling work is being done. Motorists will detour on Dale Mabry, Floyd Road and Orange Grove Drive.
Today’s bumper sticker
Advice – don’t give it. The wise don’t need it; the fools don’t heed it.
Carole Dickey is a staff writer. who lives in Pasco County. Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
It’s something of a fad, these loud train horns that are being installed in cars, SUVs and trucks, that are so loud they rattle the earth, rattle pedestrians and could theoretically endanger the reveries _ or safety _ of drivers who unknowingly offend another motorist armed with one of these 150-decibel horns designed for locomotives.
The story ran Monday in The Tampa Tribune’s Metro Section. Read it here: http://www.tbo.com/news/MGBFWEABCJE.html
The things are theoretically illegal, OK, probably illegal, and they are incredibly loud. One successful distributor, Hornblasters.com, was mentioned in the article, as was a local installer, Pete Martinez. They have now incurred the wrath of a group calling itself Noise Free America, with a chapter in St. Petersburg. Here is the group’s response, received this morning via e-mail:
February 7, 2006
Pete Martinez
Pete’s Automotive
301 Armenia Avenue
Tampa, FL 33607
Dear Mr. Martinez:
This office has been reviewing the article in the February 6 Tampa Tribune regarding your practice of installing train horns in cars. We would like to make you aware of the following:
1. Use of a train horn in a car is of course illegal. It violates the “unreasonable noise†statute and the statute governing the use of a horn for a purpose other than safety. This apparently is not your concern. You are making money and having fun, and that’s all that matters. No one will ever mistake you or Mr. Heller (and how well named he is!) for a humanitarian.
2. It is only a matter of time before one of the following (or both) happens:
Someone with a bad heart (like me) drops over dead from the fright, or
Someone like me only bigger and meaner gets out of his car and beats the horn-blower into a pulp. At least one member of another national anti-noise organization has announced his intention of carrying a baseball bat in his car for just this purpose.
3. The Florida Highway Patrol officer who works with as a liaison with the legislature has been approached about requesting a law banning the installation of train horns in cars. Law enforcement is not amused.
4. I know you think it’s funny to watch people jump out of their skins with fright, but I am 64 years old with high blood pressure and a severe somatic allergic to loud noise. It doesn’t just affect my blood pressure – it produces pain in my head, chest, and/or stomach, causes me to sweat, makes my heart race, and (and note this, because a lot of people respond this way) sends a surge of adrenaline through my body that makes me, involuntarily, very aggressive and violent.
5. Should there be an incident where someone who has purchased one of these weapons from you is the direct cause of another person’s injury or death, one or more anti-noise organizations is prepared to sue the horn-blower and you and your business for damages. As the provider of this device, you are as culpable as the person who uses it. You and Mr. Heller are advised to take out a lot of insurance. A lot.
6. The Hillsborough County Sheriff and the local office of the FHP have been contacted with a request for an immediate crackdown on this highly antisocial, unsafe and unhealthy hobby.
Noise Free America hopes you will take the foregoing to heart and find another way to make a living.
Sincerely,
Judy Ellis
We have a reputation as the lightning capital of North America, but this can also be a pretty foggy place as well. We average 22 “heavy fog” days a year with the vast majority of them falling during the winter months.
In recent years, the Tampa Bay area has experienced more than 100 fog-related crashes in November and December, about 250 in January and more than 150 in February. That state logs nearly 5,000 fog-related crashes during those four months.
Ideal conditions for fog formation are temperatures between 40 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, relatively high humidity with calm winds and clear skies.
Almost all fog-related crashes occur during drivers” early morning commutes and are caused by drivers” failure to maintain uniform, reduced speeds during periods of poor visibility. Even the most careful drivers in fog can’t protect themselves from other drivers on the road driving faster than visibility allows.
Some advice from the Community Traffic Safety Team - a Department of Transportation committee of engineers, traffic enforcement agencies, emergency responders and public information specialists, including AAA:
* Consider delaying your trip; fog generally burns off pretty quickly;
* Use low beams - not parking lights - not just parking or fog lights - and not emergency flashers when the vehicle is moving.
* Slow down; leave longer breaking distances; avoid braking sharply;
* Minimize lane-changing;
* Listen for trouble ahead: crack a window open, turn down the radio;
* Use extreme care at intersections.
Lori Buck/Maricelle Venegas
Public Information Officer
Road Closures from 39th Street to Morgan Street
on Saturday Night, February 4th to Sunday, February 5th
on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway
Motorists can now expect the road closure on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway westbound SATURDAY from 39th Street, exit 10 to Morgan Street, exit 6. The road closure will begin 8 p.m. and is expected to reopen on Sunday, February 5th at approximately 6:00 p.m. This closure is necessary for overhead bridge work on the new reversible bridge in the downtown area.
Detour: Westbound motorists will be detoured off at 39th Street, exit 10 travel north to Hwy. 60, west to Channelside Dr., west on Brorein Street, and re-enter the westbound Expressway at Morgan Street, entrance #6.
While traveling through the work zone, motorists are urged to use caution, obey the posted speed limit of 45 mph. Please be advised that unforeseen circumstances such as weather may affect the construction schedule.
TAMPA—All lanes of northbound I-275 have been REOPENED over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard after repairs to the pothole in the left lane.
__
Motorists can expect a road closure on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway westbound from 39th Street, exit 10, to Morgan Street, exit 6. The road closure will begin tonight, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. and is expected to reopen on Saturday at approximately 6 p.m. This closure is necessary for overhead bridge work on the new reversible bridge in the downtown area.
Westbound motorists will be detoured off at 39th Street, exit 10, and travel north to Hwy. 60, west to Channelside Drive, west on Brorein Street, and re-enter the westbound Expressway at Morgan Street, entrance 6. While
traveling through the work zone, motorists are urged to use caution, obey the posted speed limit of 45 mph. Please be advised that unforeseen circumstances such as inclement weather may affect the construction schedule.
Lori Buck/Maricelle Venegas
Public Information Officers,
Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority
TAMPA (10:40 a.m.)—The left and center lanes of northbound I-275 have been closed over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard for repairs to a pothole in the left lane. Traffic is very slow on northbound I-275 leading up to the closure area. No estimate has been set yet as to when the lanes will reopen to traffic.
______________________________
John McShaffrey, DOT Public Information Officer
Interstate Construction Office
http://www.myTBI.com
TBI is Tampa Bay Interstates
On Friday Night, Feb. 3, through Saturday, motorists can expect a road closure on the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway westbound from 39th Street, exit 10, to Morgan Street, exit 6.
The closure will begin Friday at 8 p.m. and the expressway is expected to reopen Saturday at approximately 6 p.m. This closure is necessary for overhead bridge work on the new reversible bridge in the downtown area.
The detour for Westbound motorists will mean an exit at 39th Street, north to Highway 60, west to Channelside Drive, west on Brorein Street, and re-enter the westbound Expressway at Morgan Street, entrance 6.
While traveling through the work zone, motorists are urged to use caution, obey the posted speed limit of 45 mph, and be aware that unforeseen circumstances such as inclement weather may affect the construction schedule.
The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority expresses its appreciation for your patience and regrets any inconvenience to motorists.
—Lori Buck/Maricelle Venegas, Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, Public Information Office
I just learned that this past spring’s legislative session in Tallahassee featured an actual bill designed to get those incredibly slow drivers out of the passing lane on multilane highways.
(Sometimes I think those annoying motorists are closet FHP troopers, determined to enforce the speed limit all by themselves, reveling in the column of cars with fuming, headlight-blinking, horn-honking drivers building behind them, knowing it is thanks to them the dirty lawbreakers are for once obeying the speed limit.)
House Bill 157 was even labeled “The Road Rage Reduction Act” and sponsored by a host of state reps including Rich Glorioso and Kevin Ambler, Republicans both, of Hillsborough County.
It required drivers to yield the right-of-way to any faster-moving vehicles in the left lane of multilane highways—regardless of how fast the passing vehicle is going—and drive in the right-hand lane if not actually passing slower-moving vehicles.
Those who failed to move over would be given a ticket, with 3 points assessed to their licenses.
It passed 113-4 in the House, 28-10 in the Senate.
Then it was vetoed by Gov. Jeb Bush.
In his veto message, Bush wrote that the bill ““appears to address a perception, rather than an empirically-established reality, that Florida is experiencing road incidents connected with so-called “rolling roadblocks” created when inconsiderate or unwitting drivers occupy the left-hand lane while proceeding along at the same speed as right-lane traffic.
““Second… the bill would allow a law-abiding motorist who fails to make way for an approaching speeder to be punished with a fine.’‘
Then he questioned whether this was a useful way for limited traffic enforcement personnel to spend their time, and whether the proposal’s enforcement might discourage tourists from visiting The Speeding State.
But its biggest shortcoming, he wrote, is that it would ““provide relief for those traveling at high rates of speed, or possessed of emotional intemperance at the expense of cautious and careful drivers.’‘
As we march into 2006 – or, since this is a traffic column, I should say motor into 2006 – I suspect there are more than a few readers out there whose eyes, which a short time ago feasted on holiday buffets, now feast on new car models.
For those of you lucky, smart or rich enough to have made it through Christmas shopping with money left over for car shopping, you might want to check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site, http://www.safercar.gov. NHTSA recently completed its first round of front and side impact crash tests on new vehicles already in dealer showrooms and found five vehicles worthy of five-star ratings, with five stars being the highest rating in both crash and rollover testing.
New model year 2006 ratings are available for 14 passenger cars, four SUVs, two vans and one pickup truck, plus previous years’ test results on other models.
Their pamphlet, “Buying a Safer Car 2006,†helps buyers decide which vehicle to buy based on the vehicle’s safety in construction and features. You can also pick up some helpful tips on tire ratings, equipment/maintenance and defects/recalls.
A word about gas mileage: Don’t necessarily believe what the window sticker says. As gas prices soar and more sophisticated car electronics track the mileage accurately, drivers have become increasingly aware of the discrepancy between sticker statements and gas gauge reality.
The Environmental Protection Agency provides fuel economy data that is posted on the window stickers of new vehicles. On Jan. 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is proposing new test methods for calculating the fuel economy estimates. This is still in the discussion stage. The problem with the current system is that it doesn’t reflect actual driving conditions. During the EPA tests, certain things are controlled, like the stop-and-go time, the weight in the car, the air drag against the car, the temperature, which affects performance and other things.
For more on this topic, visit http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy.
Current construction projects
Interstate 75 southbound from the vicinity of State Road 56 to south of County Line Road is being widened to provide an additional lane on Interstate 275 southbound.
The project also includes resurfacing I-75 from County Line Road to the Cypress Creek Bridge and installing a median barrier guardrail system on I-275 from U.S. 41 to I-75/I-275 interchange.
The projected completion time is late 2006.
State Road 52 from Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway is being widened from two to six lanes.
The projected completion date is fall 2008.
S. R. 54 from Mitchell Bypass (Little Road area) to east of Gunn Highway is being widened from two to six lanes.
The projected completion date is spring 2006.
Hanna Avenue at Thatcher Avenue is having a sewer main replaced beginning Jan. 30 with anticipated completion Feb. 24.
Motorists will experience a detour to Olive, Idlewild and Hubert avenues.
Today’s bumper sticker
“Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself.†Submitted by In the Loop reader Irwin Schuster, New Tampa.
Carole Dickey is a staff writer who lives in Pasco County. Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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