That is one of the most dangerous stretches of I-75, which is pretty much a horrifying death trap between Gainesville and Sarasota.

After they 8 laned that stretch of road the fatalities started racking up. Scary part of the road.

Most of the time now I take 27/19/98 out of Tallahassee, 98 from south of Crystal River to Lakeland and south.

I won't be going that direction many more times now that my Mom is gone. A few more trips to help finishing sorting out the house and that will be it. To visit my sister, I will probably take the toll road off 90 to north Tampa - or get her to come up here to see me!

<snip>

"Seven people died and at least eight more were injured, some of them critically, in a multi-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Interstate 75.

Two tractor-trailer rigs, a passenger van and mid-sized sedan were involved in the fiery crash in the southbound lanes at mile marker 393 north of Northwest 39th Avenue. It was reported about 3:33 p.m.

The interstate’s southbound lanes between 39th Avenue and U.S. 441 will likely to remain shut down in that area through Friday morning, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Northbound lanes reopened Thursday night but law enforcement said to expect slow traffic.

FHP Lt. Patrick Riordan said early Thursday evening that five of the accident victims who died were in the passenger van. Others from the van were hospitalized, but he did not know how many."

https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190103/seven-die-in-fiery-crash-on-i-75-between-alachua-gainesville

I hate hearing about stuff like that.

A couple of posts above note it as a scary stretch of highway. Why so? It looks flat and fairly straight.

Lots of semis and lots of people in a hurry to get to Disney World.

That sounds like most interstate highways in and around cities nationwide. I still don’t get it but thanks for sharing.

and are good and tired when they find themselves on that stretch of road.

impossible for cars to drive that fast and therefore less likely for horrible accidents.

And that was in the early 90s when I drove it.

Of course, everyone drives like that everywhere these days.

It is a typical stretch of somewhat rural interstate.

It's busy, sure as it is a main route from Georgia into Florida, but it isn't as if it is screaming along at 80 MPH, bumper to bumper 24/7.

This position, the 393 mile marker, is north of Gainesville and south of the town of Alachua.

It used to be only 2 lanes and got very congested during Thanksgiving week, Christmas and game weekends at the U of F.

Otherwise, it is your average run-of-the-mill stretch of American Freeway.

Which is sort of strange because it’s not as if either are major cities, and it is 3 lanes in each direction.

On the other hand it is the only direct expressway route between Atlanta and Tampa Orlando so I guess it gets a lot of traffic that way.

Just last week I was driving that way and there was a 74 minute drive for a 13 mile stretch. Had to get off on the side roads.

Going north on I-75 are those from the entire west and SW coasts of Florida.....Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area, Bradenton/Sarasota, Ft. Myers/Naples, and everything in between.

Going north on the Turnpike are those from the Orlando metro area, and all of SE Florida......Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties, and everything in between.

That is a huge volume of traffic coming together about 50 miles south of Gainesville. Also, southbound on I-75, north of that apex, is a huge volume of traffic that will soon be forking either southeastward to Orlando and all of SE Florida, or southwestward to the Tampa area all the way down the SW coast of Florida.

Altogether, that makes for a dangerous driving environment.

Florida, as a narrow peninsula but with a lot of people, only has a couple of north-south expressway type highways running through it, so things can get very congested at points.

That fact was rather evident when we saw evacuations before Hurricane Irma.

The stretch between the end of the Turnpike and Gainesville is one of the worst for whatever reason.

that accident happened at the 393 mile marker, NORTH of Gainesville. The I-75/FL Turnpike interchange at Wildwood is at the 328 mile marker on I-75.

65 miles south of that spot, 24 miles south of Ocala and 60 miles south of Gainesville.

Was reported an eyewitness saw a FHP car in the median

My guess?

Someone in the left lane slowed down when they saw the cop and it caused someone behind them to swerve and eventually causing the accident.

See it all the time. People freak out when they see a cop on the side of the road and hit their brakes and slow down BELOW the speed limit and cause or nearly cause accidents behind them

Recently went through the I-40, the stretch between Flagstaff and Santa Rosa was a frozen mess.

Pay is as good if not better and 1/10th the amount of physical labor! Plus I'm a Teamster again, so I like that.

Copy the frozen mess. Yeah...just got back from a California trip yesterday. There were some Winter Storm warnings along the way, but the worst I/we (Team operation) had was running through some freezing mist in west Texas, so no big deal at all, really.

Saw evidence of the snow in Flagstaff on the side of I 40 in California on the way out! Chunks of dirty ice that had fallen off trucks.


Winter driving is adventurous!

Last edited Sat Jan 5, 2019, 04:10 PM - Edit history (2)

Five children died in a fiery crash on the way to Disney World, and the federal safety agency that's supposed to investigate isn't going because of the government shutdown

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