Tampa Bay traffic jams as thousands evacuate before Hurricane Milton

Tampa Bay drivers were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic Monday afternoon as thousands evacuated from Hurricane Milton.

Milton, now a dangerous Category 5 storm, has led forecasters to place nearly all of Tampa Bay under a hurricane watch. The storm is expected to make landfall somewhere on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, and Tampa Bay remains squarely in its path.

Residents fleeing evacuation zones now face heavy congestion on major highways and local roads.

Major roads such as the Howard Frankland Bridge, I-4 and parts of U.S. 19 were crowded and slow, data collected by TomTom showed.

On Monday at about 4:30 p.m., Google Maps estimated it would take about 1 hour and 11 minutes to get to Wesley Chapel from parts of Downtown Tampa — approximately 40 minutes longer than on a normal day.

Pinellas and Pasco counties announced an evacuation Monday for residents in zones A, B, C, and mobile homes. In Pinellas, those zones are home to more than half the county’s population. Hillsborough County ordered mandatory evacuations for residents in zones A and B and those living in mobile homes or flood-prone areas.

“We already had a deadly brush with Helene, and Milton is projected to bring twice the rain that Debby did and twice the impact from Helene. This is serious. There is no room for waiting. You must take action now,” said Pinellas County Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins during a presser on Monday afternoon.

It could take Pinellas roughly 23 hours to fully evacuate zones A, B and C, and Hillsborough roughly 20 hours to evacuate zones A and B, according to estimates from a state government database. Tropical storm-force winds may begin in the region Wednesday morning, hours before Milton’s landfall.

Even before Pinellas County announced mandatory evacuations, Florida Department of Transportation video feeds showed heavy traffic on the Howard Frankland Bridge.

Hillsborough County spokesperson Chris Wilkerson said the usual guidance still stands: evacuate tens of miles, not hundreds of miles. Residents should aim to get just outside of a mandatory evacuation zone, rather than risking major delays while traveling to a different region, Wilkerson said.

East of Tampa, parts of I-4 were also jam-packed around 1:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, as drivers head toward Orlando.

Gas shortages may also make longer journeys more perilous.

More than 50 gas stations in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties were out or low on gas by 4:45 p.m. Monday, according to GasBuddy, a tracking website. Statewide, there are over 300 outages, said Patrick De Haan, a GasBuddy analyst.

Two of RaceTrac’s three locations in Pinellas, for example, had only diesel fuel remaining. Four of the 10 cheapest gas stations in Tampa Bay had run out of regular fuel by Monday afternoon. Stations attached to big-box stores such as Walmart, Costco and Sam’s Club were in the best shape, according to GasBuddy’s data.

Gov. Ron DeSantis directed officials to suspend tolls across West Florida and Central Florida starting at 10:30 a.m. Monday. In Tampa Bay, that includes tolls for the following roads:

• Suncoast Parkway
• I-4 Connector
• Selmon Expressway
• Veterans Expressway
• Gateway Expressway
• 275 Express
• Pinellas Bayway
• Sunshine Skyway Bridge

The Florida Department of Transportation will also allow some drivers to drive on the shoulder along parts of I-4 and I-75 to ease the flow of traffic, the agency announced.

Times staff writer Romy Ellenbogen contributed to this report

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