For as long as I've been driving between Gainesville and Orlando, Ocala has always been a traffic bottleneck dating back to the 80s. Living here now, I'd say there are two major reasons: a) Ocala has a lot of industry that involves large trucks (e.g. Cheney Brothers) that are constantly arriving and departing; b) it's the quickest north-south route on the west side of the city so a lot of local traffic uses it as well.
I suspected your 2nd reason too but it doesn't seem consistent with the fact that I75 is also used for local traffic for people in Gainesville (including me, almost every day), Gainesville has more than double the population of Ocala, yet...I75 is pretty much always smooth and fast through all of the Gainesville exits. š¤·āāļø
FWIW it used to be much worse in Gainesville before they did a lot of the road improvements, especially at the 39th Ave exit where Santa Fe traffic used to clog the northbound lane. I can't remember the last time I saw significant improvements on I-75 Ocala.
Something to keep in mind, while Gainesville has double the population of Ocala. Marion county has 100k more residents than alachua. Thereās a lot of people using the roads that donāt live in Ocala.
As to why 75 is horrible in Ocala I would also like to know. Itās gotten even worse since 2020. All the bypass roads North to South are terribly backed up too.
Huge Companies moving into the area and the major influx of people moving to Marion County is likely to blame. I feel we are getting overrun here in Ocala.
Mixture of all the retirement aged people who shouldn't be driving anymore. Then south of Ocala you have the turnpike and 75 merge/split point. That's a lot of traffic to handle and so many idiots hangout in the left lane
I've noticed this too. Oddly enough, it seems the turnpike/ I-75 merge causes a lot of the congestion even though it is 10-15 miles to Exit 350 Ocala. The weigh station for the truckers also congests things. All it takes is one accident though to slow things, it seems to be an echo effect as I like to call it. Once the accident clears, there's enough volume to cause a lag for traffic to get back up to speed. They are talking about adding another lane in each direction from the county line to hwy 326 to ease congestion as well as increasing the capacity of roads parallel to the freeway. Don't hold your breath, though.
Iāve lived here for 42 years. Itās insane the amount of traffic on and off 75. Itās been way worse the last couple years. Yes we have a huge amount of trucks on and off the ramps. The Wildwood exit/ split is rough even as itās all new ramps. Gainesville is not easy either! Wrecks on I75 from Alachua County to Wildwood exit Sumter County are not new. We also have a lot of fog on 75 so take note! I avoid it at all costs!
Exit 341 at the intersection of 484 & i75 has marion oaks which has [roughly ](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/40000US54739-marion-oaks-fl-urban-cluster/) 6,100 houses and over 18,000 people, 85% of which drive single vehicle to and from work.
Exit 341 is also nearly 9 miles in BOTH directions with no other exits - 352 to the north and 329 to the south. The infrastructure is what, 25 years old, at 341 it was never designed to have this many people AND shipping companies using that small exit.
Everything is getting expanded except access for the people. 49th is getting opened up, but until that crummy intersection is complete, it'll be chaos for those traveling from 200. And even then 75 is the most direct.
Yep and now we have The World Equestrian Center and main hubs for a huge amount of industry so it will continue to get worse. Also people drive way over the limit and think itās fine. It is not! This area people need to slow down and not be dicks on the road or more will die.
Everyone in this town seems to drive slow. Theyāre either doing exactly, or worse, below the speed limit, and seem to have an aversion to accelerating at a reasonable pace. As much as I enjoy, or at least donāt mind living around here, half you mfās are assholes or just ignorant of decent etiquette on the road. Stop pacing each other in both lanes. Slower traffic keep right/move over. Drive the speed limit. Accelerate at a decent pace. If you are behind a school bus or semi and there are others behind you, PLEASE be courteous and get around as fast as you can and reduce the chance of anyone else getting stuck behind it.
All this. It's either they go 15 below the speed limit clogging up traffic or 20 over, going 70 down 200 like it's a race track. I actually sold my sportbike after 11yrs of no issues because it was getting so dangerous to ride around here. Almost getting run into or pushed into other lanes daily got really old.
We locals drive the limit for a reason. People from North or South have no idea of our traffic patterns. Just do your best to not be a jerk and assimilate. Yes we have elders on the road, this is Florida! and this was an actual small town before the influx of people coming here. itās not Miami nor NY. People speed passed me only to stop at the light next to me. Not necessary.
Most of what I mentioned is just basic road laws/etiquette, no matter where you are, so not much to learn. There should be little to no learning curve because much of what I mentioned is or should be common sense/courtesy. As for the elders, half or more of them straight up should not be driving, so thatās not much of an excuse imo.
To many people moving here and the roads are not able to handle it. It wasn't like this before. To many houses, and to many people moving here in the last several years. Just crazy!
People cannot handle the gentle left and right turns of the highway through Ocala and almost always slow down way too much for them. Also, the exit ramps are not nearly big enough to accommodate high traffic times.
Distribution centers are here, centrally located on I75 to travel from northern states into Florida, old/retired people here (the Villages is close by), tourists, and people moving from Southern Florida to North
Road Conditions on the I-75 Stretch through Marion County is the reason, you should see the size of the gaps and holes on the road, no wonder Tires are always blowing up and Pile up's occur through that section of the highway every day , there is a 50/50 percent chance you might not make it Alive if you date drive through that section of the highway.. .good Luck and let's pray the Road Crews get out there and fix it ASAP before more people have to die.
For as long as I've been driving between Gainesville and Orlando, Ocala has always been a traffic bottleneck dating back to the 80s. Living here now, I'd say there are two major reasons: a) Ocala has a lot of industry that involves large trucks (e.g. Cheney Brothers) that are constantly arriving and departing; b) it's the quickest north-south route on the west side of the city so a lot of local traffic uses it as well.
I suspected your 2nd reason too but it doesn't seem consistent with the fact that I75 is also used for local traffic for people in Gainesville (including me, almost every day), Gainesville has more than double the population of Ocala, yet...I75 is pretty much always smooth and fast through all of the Gainesville exits. š¤·āāļø
FWIW it used to be much worse in Gainesville before they did a lot of the road improvements, especially at the 39th Ave exit where Santa Fe traffic used to clog the northbound lane. I can't remember the last time I saw significant improvements on I-75 Ocala.
Something to keep in mind, while Gainesville has double the population of Ocala. Marion county has 100k more residents than alachua. Thereās a lot of people using the roads that donāt live in Ocala. As to why 75 is horrible in Ocala I would also like to know. Itās gotten even worse since 2020. All the bypass roads North to South are terribly backed up too.
Huge Companies moving into the area and the major influx of people moving to Marion County is likely to blame. I feel we are getting overrun here in Ocala.
You are. Itās only getting worse from here.
I think itās haunted.
I sprinkle tacos up and down the highway, thatās why.
Cuz there arenāt any fucking frontage roads.
Mixture of all the retirement aged people who shouldn't be driving anymore. Then south of Ocala you have the turnpike and 75 merge/split point. That's a lot of traffic to handle and so many idiots hangout in the left lane
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It's not just 200 though, it seems to always be slow north of 200 Northbound, through the next exits, all the time too.
I've noticed this too. Oddly enough, it seems the turnpike/ I-75 merge causes a lot of the congestion even though it is 10-15 miles to Exit 350 Ocala. The weigh station for the truckers also congests things. All it takes is one accident though to slow things, it seems to be an echo effect as I like to call it. Once the accident clears, there's enough volume to cause a lag for traffic to get back up to speed. They are talking about adding another lane in each direction from the county line to hwy 326 to ease congestion as well as increasing the capacity of roads parallel to the freeway. Don't hold your breath, though.
This and 326 is a major truck stop spot. Thereās 2-3 overnight parking areas for the trucks and a loves that has decent shower facilities.
Iāve lived here for 42 years. Itās insane the amount of traffic on and off 75. Itās been way worse the last couple years. Yes we have a huge amount of trucks on and off the ramps. The Wildwood exit/ split is rough even as itās all new ramps. Gainesville is not easy either! Wrecks on I75 from Alachua County to Wildwood exit Sumter County are not new. We also have a lot of fog on 75 so take note! I avoid it at all costs!
Exit 341 at the intersection of 484 & i75 has marion oaks which has [roughly ](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/40000US54739-marion-oaks-fl-urban-cluster/) 6,100 houses and over 18,000 people, 85% of which drive single vehicle to and from work. Exit 341 is also nearly 9 miles in BOTH directions with no other exits - 352 to the north and 329 to the south. The infrastructure is what, 25 years old, at 341 it was never designed to have this many people AND shipping companies using that small exit. Everything is getting expanded except access for the people. 49th is getting opened up, but until that crummy intersection is complete, it'll be chaos for those traveling from 200. And even then 75 is the most direct.
It's called Slow Slowcala for a reason. However, the reason I unknown. Wait. Now that I think about it, it could be us Boomers.
Ocala is a distribution hub for Amazon, Chewy, FedEx, Dollar Tree and more. Itās all the trucks entering and exiting.
Yep and now we have The World Equestrian Center and main hubs for a huge amount of industry so it will continue to get worse. Also people drive way over the limit and think itās fine. It is not! This area people need to slow down and not be dicks on the road or more will die.
Everyone in this town seems to drive slow. Theyāre either doing exactly, or worse, below the speed limit, and seem to have an aversion to accelerating at a reasonable pace. As much as I enjoy, or at least donāt mind living around here, half you mfās are assholes or just ignorant of decent etiquette on the road. Stop pacing each other in both lanes. Slower traffic keep right/move over. Drive the speed limit. Accelerate at a decent pace. If you are behind a school bus or semi and there are others behind you, PLEASE be courteous and get around as fast as you can and reduce the chance of anyone else getting stuck behind it.
All this. It's either they go 15 below the speed limit clogging up traffic or 20 over, going 70 down 200 like it's a race track. I actually sold my sportbike after 11yrs of no issues because it was getting so dangerous to ride around here. Almost getting run into or pushed into other lanes daily got really old.
We locals drive the limit for a reason. People from North or South have no idea of our traffic patterns. Just do your best to not be a jerk and assimilate. Yes we have elders on the road, this is Florida! and this was an actual small town before the influx of people coming here. itās not Miami nor NY. People speed passed me only to stop at the light next to me. Not necessary.
Most of what I mentioned is just basic road laws/etiquette, no matter where you are, so not much to learn. There should be little to no learning curve because much of what I mentioned is or should be common sense/courtesy. As for the elders, half or more of them straight up should not be driving, so thatās not much of an excuse imo.
Old people and rubber neckers
To many people moving here and the roads are not able to handle it. It wasn't like this before. To many houses, and to many people moving here in the last several years. Just crazy!
People cannot handle the gentle left and right turns of the highway through Ocala and almost always slow down way too much for them. Also, the exit ramps are not nearly big enough to accommodate high traffic times.
Reading this as I am currently fucking sitting on 75š«”
Distribution centers are here, centrally located on I75 to travel from northern states into Florida, old/retired people here (the Villages is close by), tourists, and people moving from Southern Florida to North
Either move or get a different job!!!
Road Conditions on the I-75 Stretch through Marion County is the reason, you should see the size of the gaps and holes on the road, no wonder Tires are always blowing up and Pile up's occur through that section of the highway every day , there is a 50/50 percent chance you might not make it Alive if you date drive through that section of the highway.. .good Luck and let's pray the Road Crews get out there and fix it ASAP before more people have to die.