I've lived in the St. Pete/Tampa area practically my whole life. What basically happened here, as the area grew, little 2 lane roads became 4 lanes, then 8 lanes, then super mega intersections. Trying to cross them during rush hour is like fording the Ganges river during monsoon season. Essentially, roads were made to facilitate cars moving around as quickly as possible. The good news is within the last 5 years or so some of the streets are starting to be redesigned for traffic calming. Bike lanes or sharrows have been added when a street gets redone. Still a long way to go however.