The Department of Transportation is installing flashing signs on exit ramps along Interstate 275 in Tampa to help reverse a dangerous trend of wrong-way drivers.
On Thursday, crews installed the permanent signs on the ramp from the northbound lanes of I-275. Officials said they still need federal approval to use the signs.
"This is really a pilot project, more of these signs will come in the future," said Kris Carson, spokesperson, Department of Transportation. "Right now, we have them in the northbound exit of Fowler Avenue."
The exit ramps at Bearss and Fletcher will also get the signs soon.
The installation of the first sign comes days after a 24-hour period where two different women were stopped and arrested on separate occasions by a Florida Highway Patrol for DUI and driving the wrong way.
The solar powered red and white flashing signs are in addition to wrong-way signs already in place.
Early Thursday, Trooper Ronald Evans pulled over 49-year-old Lori Lee Downard, who was arrested and taken to the Pasco County Jail. Officials said Downard was driving northbound in the southbound lanes of the Veterans Expressway near Van Dyke Road in north Tampa.
That came a day after Evans pulled over and arrested 31-year-old Maria Fernanda Bolivar for driving the wrong way on the Veterans near Gunn Highway.
Downard told authorities she thought she was heading the right way on I-75.
Since February, 11 people have died in five crashes caused by wrong-way drivers along Tampa area highways.