It’s not just your imagination, traffic in Tampa Bay is, in fact, statistically terrible. And, it makes sense—with rapid growth comes increased traffic.
Tampa Bay is indeed growing faster than most metros in the United States. According to a 2020 study from financial site Wallethub, the Bay area was the 9th fastest growing metro in the country for population growth. So it’s not hard to understand that last summer a different study from auto insurance site Quote Wizard ranked the Tampa metro as the 4th worst area in the country for traffic accidents. With this in mind, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay was curious exactly where these high volume traffic accidents were happening. So, what follows is the most recently available intersection data from FDOT, spanning 2015-2019.
Of course, crashes on FDOT highways don’t paint a complete picture of Tampa Bay’s “carmageddon,” mostly because this data doesn’t include accidents that occured on county and city-owned roads. But it’s worth noting that FDOT highways and roads are often the busiest, most traveled arteries throughout Tampa Bay.
Plus, it’s important to point out that the following data only represents intersections with lights. So, you may notice some intersections (like Hillsborough and I-275), are actually listed here multiple times, because multiple streets converge in what appears to be the same spot.
There’s actually a lot to unpack here. For starters, quite a few of Tampa Bay’s big suburban intersections are well represented and are also some of the worst intersections in the area—we’re looking at you Riverview, Brandon, and Largo.
But the most shocking revelation here is without a doubt Pinellas County’s main north and south artery, U.S.-Highway 19, which might as well be Fury Road. Of the 30 Tampa Bay intersections listed, which make up a total of 13,864 crashes, US-19 alone is responsible for 4,842. If anything, this article will help you know where to avoid, and perhaps take another look at your insurance.
US 19 @ GULF TO BAY BLVD, CLEARWATER
Total crashes: 660
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 13
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 8 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ TAMPA RD, PALM HARBOR
Total crashes:642
Total fatalities: 2
Severe crashes: 13
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 2 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ CURLEW RD, PALM HARBOR
Total crashes:613
Total fatalities: 2
Severe crashes: 13
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 8 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ DREW ST, CLEARWATER
Total crashes:591
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 8
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 13 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 60 @ S BELCHER RD, CLEARWATER
Total crashes:542
Total fatalities: 3
Severe crashes: 7
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 18 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ EAST BAY DR, LARGO
Total crashes:542
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 13
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 11 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 92 @ I 275, TAMPA
Total crashes:536
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 7
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 3 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 589 @ SR 580, TOWN ‘N’ COUNTRY
Total crashes:531
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 10
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 3 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 60 @ BRANDON TOWN CENTER DR, BRANDON
Total crashes:516
Total fatalities: 2
Severe crashes: 9
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 8 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 582 @ 30TH ST, TAMPA
Total crashes:501
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 4
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 5 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 301 @ GIBSONTON DR, RIVERVIEW
Total crashes:487
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 17
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 6 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 92 @ CHEROKEE AVE, TAMPA
Total crashes:469
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 7
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 2 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 301 @ PROGRESS BLVD, BRANDON
Total crashes:467
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 11
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 6 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ PARK BLVD N, PINELLAS PARK
Total crashes:463
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 6
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 7 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsCR 1 @ RIDGE RD, NEW PORT RICHEY
Total crashes:450
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 40
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 7 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsDALE MABRY HWY @ WATERS AVE, TAMPA
Total crashes:436
Total fatalities: 3
Severe crashes: 5
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 18 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 574 @ I 275, TAMPA
Total crashes:427
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 9
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 8 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 574 @ I 275, TAMPA
Total crashes:419
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 9
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 0 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 41 @ SR 54, LAND ‘O LAKES
Total crashes:414
Total fatalities: 2
Severe crashes: 21
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 5 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ MAIN ST, DUNEDIN
Total crashes:401
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 3
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 5 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 19 @ E TARPON AVE, TARPON SPRINGS
Total crashes:388
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 8
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 4 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 686 @ 34TH ST N, CLEARWATER
Total crashes:386
Total fatalities: 3
Severe crashes: 15
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 4 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 686 @ STARKEY RD, LARGO
Total crashes:385
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 11
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 17 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsUS 301 @ BIG BEND RD, RIVERVIEW
Total crashes:375
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 19
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 10 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 60 @ FALKENBURG RD, TAMPA
Total crashes:374
Total fatalities: 2
Severe crashes: 7
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 4 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsI 275 @ E BUSCH BLVD, TAMPA
Total crashes:374
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 3
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 0 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsSR 688 @ STARKEY RD, LARGO
Total crashes:370
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 10
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 17 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsI 75 @ BIG BEND RD, RIVERVIEW
Total crashes:369
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 22
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 0 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsCR 584 @ HANLEY RD, TOWN ‘N’ COUNTRY
Total crashes:368
Total fatalities: 1
Severe crashes: 5
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 14 Credit: Screengrab via Google MapsI-275 @ 22ND AVE N, ST. PETERSBURG
Total crashes:368
Total fatalities: 0
Severe crashes: 12
Pedestrian and bike injuries: 3 Credit: Screengrab via Google Maps
Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...
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