Florida Hurricane Highway Travel

[jwolfer]

The turnpike backups were on the 50 mile no exit stretch, where the turnpike drops from 8 lanes back to 4 at the SR 50 exit for Clermont and at i75... I was surprised 95 was not worse..

And US27, 441, 17, 1 and 301 were for the most part clear. People are afraid to get off interstates.

If the interstates were bad last night i had planned to take SR19 from Orlando area up to Jax area.  It scares regular folks cuz there is no cell phone service.

Traffic on 95 was no worse than Thanksgiving weekend. Busy but not horrible back ups.. It was much less stressful once i exited at SR 16 to go to SW Jacksonville suburbs. I opted to use 4 and 95 but part of me wishes i took 19.. Less stressful

LGMS428

[jwolfer]

Callahan, FL has no fuel and not expected to get some for a while as fuel trucks top priority is further south in the state.

Last night the Turnpike was moving as normal as it would appear most have already fled.

The problem is once in GA, there are no motels and gas is scarce along I-75 and probably US 19, US 27, and even US 441 a road that most would not use, but many towns along 441 intersect with east west roads having coastline GA and SC residents flee westward consume all the fuel.

BTW Wawa has gallon water bottles still available as I was there last night on Sand Lake and Universal in Orlando with cases still ready for sale.  No hot hoagies as all hot food items are not being prepared in lieu of the storm.  Only cold food items being sold and of course Tastycake and Frito Lay items.

The wawa near my office stopped making flurricanes, smoothies etc.. I was .. I just wanted a frozen sweet treat so badly after gorging myself on pizza.. I ordered pizza for the office.

Inwas sort of annoyed that the company i work for let the administrative hq staff leave at 1 but clinical staff had full day. We are not an emergency or urgent care clinic.. We treat auto accident and slip and fall cases.. Out of 87 scheduled patients ~20 showed.. But getting out later i had better traffic.

When will tolls go back into effect?

LGMS428

[jwolfer]

These type situations it really comes in hady to be a roadgeek.. We are amazing to out friends for knowing Backroads and shortcuts..

I had friends that were surprised that us17 was in Orlando as well as Jacksonville... "Well duh! Are you f***in' stupid" is my first thought but i just give a lesson on highway systems lol.. I lkke to keep friends

LGMS428

[roadman65]

Its in Collier County, FL now.  Touched Marco Island within the last hour.  Now heading north so Fort Myers will feel it within the next 3 hours.

Storm surge is on the back side of it being its rotation and the shape of the coast.  Plus flat lands and the marshes add to the surge heading far inland.

[Max Rockatansky]

Anyone got any information on how US 1 and the have Keys fared?  I saw some videos from Key West but it didn't look too out of control, the eye was more to the east towards Big Pine and the Middle Keys.

[1995hoo]

Its in Collier County, FL now.  Touched Marco Island within the last hour.  Now heading north so Fort Myers will feel it within the next 3 hours.

Storm surge is on the back side of it being its rotation and the shape of the coast.  Plus flat lands and the marshes add to the surge heading far inland.

Power went out at 1:30, according to the last message we've received from our relatives.

Meantime....

http://twitter.com/marcoislandpd/status/906971383967645696

[Max Rockatansky]

Looks like the storm dropped to a CAT 2, that's good news for the family I have living in the Tampa area.  They went hardcore this time and even got metal shutters for the house time around.

[roadman65]

Orlando is not that bad along OBT south of Sand Lake Road.  Many power outings created unlit signals, but some of the span wire ones were twisted like at John Young and Sand Lake (which twisted in Charley and Frances in 04 as well as its the same assembly and signal heads still) and the FYA left turn head on OBT NB at Taft-Vineland road was turned.

Stores remained closed except for 7 Eleven that was mobbed with beer buyers and junk food holics as they went against curfew and opened anyway.  They were out of gas though as well as prepared sandwiches, so many were ordering pizza.

Not bad on the roads as very little obstacles from fallen power lines and debri items like tree branches.  I saw a billboard blown through and a bgs turned around on John Young Parkway at FL 528 EB ramp.  It looks like most of Orlando came out good.  Some flooding and drainage issue as my part of the county is drained by Shingle Creek into Lake Toho in Osceola which is overworked due to its long journey into Lake Okeechobee via the Kissimmee River and then into the Gulf via the Coosawatachie River or the Atlantic via the St. Lucie Canal.  Still not much to stop traffic on the arteries though.

[CtrlAltDel]

Are the tolls still suspended?

[barcncpt44]

Yes, governor Rick Scott announced all tolls are still suspended in Florida.
https://twitter.com/FLGovScott/status/907659313556140032

[roadman65]

Tolls are but plazas are manned.

[Interstate 69 Fan]

Why didn't they do what GADOT did to I-16 using Contraflow?

[rickmastfan67]

US-27 & US-41 are both closed due to flooding.  Might lose I-75 next.
http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/09/13/flooding-from-irma-could-close-i-75-stranding-thousands/

[rickmastfan67]

US-27 & US-41 are both closed due to flooding.  Might lose I-75 next.
http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/09/13/flooding-from-irma-could-close-i-75-stranding-thousands/

And they got lucky, got within a foot of where they said they would have to close I-75, but it's now going back down.

[roadman]

Why didn't they do what GADOT did to I-16 using Contraflow?

In a news conference I heard, FL officials stated that contraflow wasn't implemented due to the need to bring fuel trucks southbound to replenish gas stations.

[VTGoose]

We drove to our son's house in Apollo Beach on Aug. 30, then to Orlando on Aug. 31 to catch a flight to London, ultimately heading out on an eight-day cruise. We watched BBC News and Sky News on the ship and their excellent coverage as Irma moved across the islands and into Florida. We had limited internet and did hear that our son (and fiancée and 3 dogs) was in good shape and staying put. We flew back into Orlando on Sept. 12 (the airport opened that day for normal operations) and other than a massive musty odor in the terminal from wet carpet/ceiling tiles and small tree debris in the parking lot, all was fine. The trip to Apollo Beach was uneventful as was the trip the next day to take my sister-in-law back to the airport for her trip home.

We left yesterday (Thursday) for the standard drive back to Virginia, using the I-75/U.S. 301/I-95/I-26/I-77/I-81 route back to Virginia. Traffic on I-75 was pretty typical (Florida vehicle operators just don't know how to drive on multiple-lane roads) with heavy traffic in both directions. A large part of the southbound traffic was convoys of electric utility trucks and tree service trucks, apparently headed further south of Tampa (by the time Irma reached the Tampa area it had dropped to a Cat 3 storm and the biggest problem was/is power outages). Along both I-75 and U.S. 301, there were trees down along the right of way, but it was totally random as to where a tree in a whole strip was down. It wasn't like whole areas were mowed flat (I was in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota IN the 1999 derecho and witnessed lots of downed trees from that windstorm).

On I-95 (we did the 301 cut-across and avoided Jacksonville) northbound traffic was light to moderate, with heavy southbound traffic consisting of the utility and tree trucks and evacuees returning home. Everything was moving well until we reached to two-lane section in South Carolina (I know some here don't believe additional lanes are needed in SC, but this makes a good case for the construction). The traffic was pretty much bumper-to-bumper and was slowed to a crawl due to the volume in some places (I was glad to be going north and not in the traffic jam). I can't imagine what it was like pre-storm heading north going from three lanes in Georgia to two lanes in South Carolina (a friend of our son took 20 hours to get from St. Pete here to Blacksburg, a trip that usually takes us 12-14 hours depending on weather and traffics/wrecks).

When heading from the airport on one of the many toll roads, I stayed in the Sun Pass lanes (we snagged a transponder on our second trip to see our son) and it wasn't until after the first toll area that there was a message board that said tolls were suspended. Not everyone got the message since there were people going through the pay lanes.

Bruce in Blacksburg

[NJRoadfan]

Somewhat off topic, but it seems a ton of Florida vehicles made their way up to the NYC tri-state area this week. Not just the usual snowbirds/relatives either. A lot of commercial type vehicles like taxis and such. I knew most of the state evacuated, but NJ is a bit further north than I would have expected folks to travel to wait out the storm.

[Aerobird]

Why didn't they do what GADOT did to I-16 using Contraflow?

In a news conference I heard, FL officials stated that contraflow wasn't implemented due to the need to bring fuel trucks southbound to replenish gas stations.

My father works in one of FDOT's various branches and has commented (awhile back during the drive to Jacksonville and observed some of the 'backwards' contraflow signs) that we don't do contraflow anymore, instead taking the "the shoulders become extra lanes" approach.