CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. — Beautiful weather means the perfect day to sit on the beach, but first beach goers have to fight traffic along the Clearwater Memorial Causeway to get there.
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Clearwater leaders say the season is shaping up to reach a new record.
John DeNardo and his son decided to fish on pier 60. He also had to fight through the congestion.
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“It seemed like about 40 minutes. And at first I was wondering, did we make a mistake coming here or what?” he said.
But, after seeing the sugar like sand and crashing waves, they knew it was the right choice to visit. TripAdvisor voted Clearwater beach number 1 in the US this year for the second time in a row.
"Very nice weather, I would gladly live here but I have a lot of friends in Chicago,” Shane said.
Which is why they can’t stay forever. Either can these two who are also visiting from Illinois. They also spent time trying to find a parking spot.
"Everybody wants our spot too, they think that we're leaving but we're just getting sunscreen,” said Maddie Derro.
Clearwater leaders say at least 50,000 cars travel through this roundabout during the spring break season and they’re expecting this year to be even busier than last.
You can make reservations for the Clearwater ferry weeks in advance. It will cost you $4 each way. They are running extra boats during Spring break. The trolley, however, won’t cost you a dime.
Clearwater leaders say, so far, it’s taken 450 cars off the road.
"I guess you realize it's a good city to visit when it's a lot of traffic, and if it's really light and no one is there then it's probably not that good. So it's popular,” said DeNardo. "I could tell that the traffic is so bad that if you get into rush-hour traffic on the way home forget about it."
