Sarasota County, like all coastal areas in South Florida, gets jammed up by ‘snowbirds’ like my wife and I, who migrate there every winter to escape Minnesota’s painfully cold weather.

To alleviate traffic at its heaviest near the city of Sarasota, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) converted the junction of Interstate-75 at University Parkway to a diverging diamond interchange (DDI)—the largest in the world at the time it was implemented in 2017. This development increased capacity by 33 percent to 80,000 vehicles per day and reduced the intersection delays by 50 percent. These improvements stem from a large reduction—over 50 percent—in the conflict points.

Soon the I-75 at Fruitville Road interchange will also be converted to a DDI by FDOT. Hundreds more are either already built or under construction across the USA. If you haven’t experienced a DDI, get ready for being disconcerted from the temporary reversal of lanes.

I hate DDI’s so much, that when forced to drive down University to pick visitors up at the Sarasota Bradenton Internation Airport, I exit I75 at Fruitville Road. But this resistance is fruitless (pun intended) due to the upcoming project by FDOT.

I also dislike roundabouts when traffic gets to the point where it becomes very difficult to break in on the flow. Sarasota County features a great number of traffic circles like this. The mix of slow senior snowbirds and aggressive Florida men aggravates the free-for-all.

All this makes route planning and timing essential when driving during Florida’s peak season. Fortunately, I enjoy challenges like this that involve multiple constraints. As the guru Sivananda Saraswati said, “the harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph.”