Florida

[Brian556]

Quote from Fred Defender:

Here's another I-75 construction question - this one from Alachua County, 200 miles north of Charlotte and fifteen years earlier:

Does anyone know how they constructed I-75 across Payne's Prairie south of Gainesville? Anyone familiar with this stretch knows that it consists of a 1+ mile section of road that is built up probably ten feet above the surrounding swampy area. This represents a s***load of fill. Surely, this wasn't all trucked in one load at a time. I'm assuming that the fill was dredged from the surrounding Payne's Prairie.

I have a good friend who began teaching at UF in 1959. So he was definitely in Gainesville while I-75 was being built in 1963. I've asked him. He said that he just doesn't remember how they built it.

I find that area very interesting. It is obvious that Payne's Prairie was once a body of water. How long ago and why it is empty today I do not know. I actually find it odd that there is so little fill, and that the Interstate is practically at ground level through there. It is nowhere near 10 feet. There must be some reason that they are confident that it will not fill up with water in the near future.

This is nothing compared to other fills on Interstate Highways. I-49 in Louisiana has several area were the road is built up very high. Looking at Google maps, it appears that long sections of I-49 could be flooded by the Red River if they were no raised.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.57014,-82.350998&spn=0.000037,0.024784&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=29.57014,-82.350998&panoid=4yKfRtHEO1gaAUyFtV0rBg&cbp=12,154.53,,0,0

[Fred Defender]

I find that area very interesting. It is obvious that Payne's Prairie was once a body of water. How long ago and why it is empty today I do not know. I actually find it odd that there is so little fill, and that the Interstate is practically at ground level through there. It is nowhere near 10 feet. There must be some reason that they are confident that it will not fill up with water in the near future.

This is nothing compared to other fills on Interstate Highways. I-49 in Louisiana has several area were the road is built up very high. Looking at Google maps, it appears that long sections of I-49 could be flooded by the Red River if they were no raised.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.57014,-82.350998&spn=0.000037,0.024784&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=29.57014,-82.350998&panoid=4yKfRtHEO1gaAUyFtV0rBg&cbp=12,154.53,,0,0

Florida's lakes have been on a long-term downward trend for decades. Many of Florida's springs have run dry, also. Chalk it up to increasing population. Except for the past couple of years which have been fairly wet, the state has been in a semi-permanent state of drought, also, which hasn't helped (and we ALL know what's to blame for that).

Supposedly, steamboats operated on Payne's Prairie dating back to the first half of the last century. After the hurricanes of 2004, there was quite a lot of water in it. Nearby Orange Lake is another body of water which is a mere skeleton of its former self in terms of water content.

And I stand corrected on the elevation of the roadbed. Sorry. Call it 5-6 feet.

[formulanone]

There's a lot of Florida Rock mining concerns in the area  between Gainesville, Alachua, Archer, and Newberry...so the fill could have come from that region.

There's also a few interchanges just a few miles north of Paynes Prairie at FL26 and FL222, where some carving out would be needed, but it also was probably not enough to create fill for 3-4 miles of slightly elevated I-75.

[NE2]

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/paynesprairie.html
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/planning/parkplans/PaynesPrairiePreserveStatePark.pdf

The FDOT has also been receptive to working with the DEP to mitigate hydrological problems caused by the extensive canals and spoil piles created during the construction of I-75 and U.S. 441.

In other words, they took the fill from the prairie.

[Fred Defender]

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/paynesprairie.html
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/planning/parkplans/PaynesPrairiePreserveStatePark.pdf

The FDOT has also been receptive to working with the DEP to mitigate hydrological problems caused by the extensive canals and spoil piles created during the construction of I-75 and U.S. 441.

In other words, they took the fill from the prairie.

Good work.

I'm quite surprised that, even in the early-1960's, they permitted the interstate to traverse the prairie. Four hundred miles north and fifteen years later, I-75 was rerouted around Lake Allatoona.

[Alex]

US 1 is no longer acknowledged for Brickell Avenue at the northbound beginning of I-95:



Photo courtesy of mefailenglish.

The same sign bridge in April here.

[Fred Defender]

US 1 is no longer acknowledged for Brickell Avenue at the northbound beginning of I-95:

The same sign bridge in April here.

Is that highway named after the mother on "Gentle Ben"?

[Brian556]

So, the new overpass connecting SR 423 to SR 434 at US 441 was built to "relieve I-4 traffic". How much effect has it had? Any traffic count data in yet?

[NE2]

So, the new overpass connecting SR 423 to SR 434 at US 441 was built to "relieve I-4 traffic".

[citation needed]
Perhaps it was built to provide an alternate route for some traffic. But any reduction in trips using I-4 will be offset; demand rises to meet the supply.

[1995hoo]

Is there some sort of Canadian convention somewhere in Florida this week? Driving south this weekend, we were somewhat astonished by the unusually high percentage of Quebec and Ontario plates on I-95. Seemed like, other than whichever state we were in at any given moment, there were more Canadian plates than anything else. Lot of them didn't turn off at I-4, either.

[NE2]

Is there some sort of Canadian convention somewhere in Florida this week? Driving south this weekend, we were somewhat astonished by the unusually high percentage of Quebec and Ontario plates on I-95. Seemed like, other than whichever state we were in at any given moment, there were more Canadian plates than anything else. Lot of them didn't turn off at I-4, either.

Holy crap they're going to Cuba. Thanks, Obama!

[hotdogPi]

Is there some sort of Canadian convention somewhere in Florida this week? Driving south this weekend, we were somewhat astonished by the unusually high percentage of Quebec and Ontario plates on I-95. Seemed like, other than whichever state we were in at any given moment, there were more Canadian plates than anything else. Lot of them didn't turn off at I-4, either.

Holy crap they're going to Cuba. Thanks, Obama!

If they're Canadians, they could have done it even without Obama's help.

[realjd]

Is there some sort of Canadian convention somewhere in Florida this week? Driving south this weekend, we were somewhat astonished by the unusually high percentage of Quebec and Ontario plates on I-95. Seemed like, other than whichever state we were in at any given moment, there were more Canadian plates than anything else. Lot of them didn't turn off at I-4, either.

What time of day were you on the road? Back calculate the road trip from ON and QC and you may have just been on the road at the time they all got there. Southbound license plates on I95 tend to come in waves in my experience based on drive time for cars leaving in the morning.

[1995hoo]

Is there some sort of Canadian convention somewhere in Florida this week? Driving south this weekend, we were somewhat astonished by the unusually high percentage of Quebec and Ontario plates on I-95. Seemed like, other than whichever state we were in at any given moment, there were more Canadian plates than anything else. Lot of them didn't turn off at I-4, either.

What time of day were you on the road? Back calculate the road trip from ON and QC and you may have just been on the road at the time they all got there. Southbound license plates on I95 tend to come in waves in my experience based on drive time for cars leaving in the morning.

All day Saturday (left home at 8:05 AM, stopped for the night around 7:30 PM.... people at the next table at dinner were speaking French) and then Sunday from 8:45 AM to 1:50 PM.

Reason I asked was simply the sheer volume of Canadian plates. Usually we see SOME, but the majority of plates are Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Florida. On this trip, Quebec plates easily outnumbered all those except Florida (and Virginia while we were in Virginia).

Funny thing also was we saw no other Canadian plates except for one New Brunswick plate near Daytona. Of course you wouldn't expect to see many, if any, from western Canada due to geography, but we usually see a few from Nova Scotia sometime. None this time.

[florida]

So, the new overpass connecting SR 423 to SR 434 at US 441 was built to "relieve I-4 traffic".

[citation needed]
Perhaps it was built to provide an alternate route for some traffic. But any reduction in trips using I-4 will be offset; demand rises to meet the supply.

Well....it is now a straighter shot from Colonial Drive to Maitland Blvd.

[roadman65]

I think the this also helped the Lee Road and Edgewater Drive intersection as many cars had to turn left from EB Lee to NB Edgewater to reach FL 434.  That caused major back ups and the over capacity of the turn lane overflowing into the straight through lanes at that location.

[emory]

I'm back down in Florida for two weeks, and it feels good to be back home. I was on my way to the beach this afternoon going east on Las Olas Blvd (FL 842) and I noticed this little goof.

[NE2]

I'm back down in Florida for two weeks, and it feels good to be back home. I was on my way to the beach this afternoon going east on Las Olas Blvd (FL 842) and I noticed this little goof.

Probably because the control section follows SR 842 and then turns north on SR A1A (reflecting A1A's original route).

[emory]

I'm back down in Florida for two weeks, and it feels good to be back home. I was on my way to the beach this afternoon going east on Las Olas Blvd (FL 842) and I noticed this little goof.

Probably because the control section follows SR 842 and then turns north on SR A1A (reflecting A1A's original route).

My guess is the sign was intended to be a trailblazer for A1A and someone mistakenly threw a "East" label over it, since it's only a few blocks east of the previous 842 shield. The roads that connect US 1 and A1A are littered with trailblazers for both roads. Las Olas is much better signed than it used to be. However it still is not signed at the intersection with A1A.

Speaking of trailblazer signs on Las Olas Blvd, it seems the City of Fort Lauderdale's DOT does not know how to size fonts.

[WashuOtaku]

This might have been asked before, but what is the difference between the green and yellow top Florida Toll signs?

[NE2]

This might have been asked before, but what is the difference between the green and yellow top Florida Toll signs?

Age.

[Ace10]

This might have been asked before, but what is the difference between the green and yellow top Florida Toll signs?

Age.

NE2 beat me to it, but yup, age is, in general, the only difference.

As far as I know, there is no difference except that shields with the yellow toll banner were more recently introduced (in the past 3 years or so) and usually appear only on trailblazers or on guide signs from other roads (e.g., a FL 408 with a yellow banner will appear on the turnpike). I've seen this down in Miami with a yellow FL 874 on a BGS on the Turnpike Homestead Extension, and a yellow FL 878 on FL 874.

It looks like with more recent BGS installations, even guide signs for the freeway you're on are now being posted with yellow banners. In the past these had green banners, just like the older style trailblazers. You can see a yellow-bannered FL 874 on FL 874 near the interchange with FL 878.

Older sign installations still have the green banners. Newer ones probably use yellow, but I wouldn't doubt that some new installations using green banners go up, too.

[Fred Defender]

I never knew that I-275 was an east/west road in Pinellas County...

[NE2]

That sign may date to when it was I-4. Or it could be a simple error swapping of TO and EAST.

Related link: http://www.us-highways.com/i275byp.htm

[florida]

The BGS is old, but all three shields are covers. It's not button-copy, right?

Also, could the 'east' be referring to US 92?