As people took to the roads for Thanksgiving visits on Friday, an accident on I-275 on the Sunshine Skyway closed the northbound lanes for hours last night, backing up traffic for at least 5 miles. The Sunshine Skyway is the major north/southn route from the Tampa/St.Petersburg area that crosses the mouth of the Tampa Bay.

A motorist from Britian apparently left a rest area around 6:30 PM via the wrong wramp and ended up traveling at speeds in excess of 80 mph, heading south in the northbound lanes. Many vehicles swerved to miss him and a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper was in pursuit. He struck a northbound corvette breaking it in half and severely injuring the driver who was transported by helicopter to a local trauma center.

Police beleive the driver of the wrong way car was killed instantly.