Officials address future of traffic signals at U.S. 98, Allison Ave. intersection

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - If you were on Back Beach Road during Tuesday morning rush hour, you may have been stuck in lots of traffic. It was caused by a fatal scene that’s all too familiar at the intersection of Allison Avenue.

“Over the past five years, we’ve had 56 crashes at that intersection, with three being fatal crashes at that intersection,” Florida Department Of Transportation spokesperson Ian Satter said.

Panama City Beach residents say this intersection is a hazard to the community.

“It’s horrible. I mean, some days it’s really easy to get out and some days it’s a cluster,” resident Chris Ferguson said.

Officials said distracted driving is a factor for what makes this a tricky intersection.

“Everyone’s got phones. Everyone’s using them and with that, you take your eyes off the road for one second and you travel hundreds of feet and in those hundreds of feet, you can just miss a car starting to come, changing lanes, turning, just a lot of different scenarios,” Florida Highway Patrol District Lieutenant Daniel Wagner said.

And others will place the blame elsewhere.

“Because we don’t have a traffic light installed there and we’ve seen multiple wrecks happen probably on a weekly basis,” resident Randall Smith said.

Now, The Florida Department of Transportation is working on ways to prevent further crashes. Officials said they’re planning to put in traffic lights at the intersection. The primary design of these lights is to regulate the flow of traffic, with some added safety benefits.

“Well one of the reasons we install a signal is to be able to regulate traffic. It allows people to be able to move through that intersection and by doing that we can reduce the congestion through that intersection and improve safety,” said Satter.

By regulating the traffic flow, officials said this will prevent one of the main problems they see.

“There’s a big center median where multiple vehicles get at one time and then it makes it a very chaotic situation,” said Wagner.

FDOT officials said funding for the traffic light installations will become available in 2024. The installation is in anticipation of widening Back Beach from four to six lanes.

“Florida Department of Transportation designs every single facet of the roadway to be as safe as possible, including this intersection. So, we’re asking folks to help us be a part of the solution to drive through the intersection with caution and follow the rules of the road,” said Satter.

Some safety tips officials said you can take to prevent crashes is to stay off your phone, follow the speed limit, and drive through the intersection with caution.

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