Travel trouble spot: I-75

A four-vehicle accident left one woman dead, and a brush fire forced two highway lanes to close.

By TIMES STAFF WRITER
Published May 27, 2006

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The Memorial Day travel weekend started horribly on Interstate 75 Friday for many of the 1.7-million Floridians expected to be on the state's roads during the holiday.

A four-vehicle fatal wreck caused a 15-mile backup in Hernando County, and later in the day two lanes of the highway had to be closed for three hours because of a brush fire that threatened to jump the road.

HERNANDO COUNTY: Northbound I-75 traffic backed up for more than three hours after the chain-reaction wreck that killed one woman around noon. Traffic stacked up from the scene about two miles north of State Road 50.

Only one northbound lane got by, leaving frustrated travelers - many eager to start the long weekend - waiting as far back as State Road 52 and beyond.

The backups continued well into the afternoon.

The chain-reaction collision started with a truck driver who drifted out of her lane.

The driver who died was not identified, pending notification of relatives, but the Highway Patrol said she was from Tampa.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY: A brush fire forced firefighters to close two southbound lanes for three hours along a 30-mile stretch of the interstate.

Closing the lanes allowed firefighters to stage a standoff with flames that threatened to leap the highway.

The fire was burning in a gully next to the highway, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Bill Watson said, and firefighters feared it would scramble up the slope. So fire trucks were stationed along the road to wet down the grass and brush and ward off the flames.