Anyone Driving Dallas to Orlando December 21?

[Flexan]

I think my family is ready to leave me behind if I don't settle down. Sure, I'm excited and have probably over-planned . . . 1st: Get in van, insert Mickey's Christmas Songs CD, etc., but three-fifths of them (the three kids) don't know what is in store when we get to Florida, so their excitement level isn't as high as mine. Should I tell them? NO! DisneyWorld is a surprise Christmas gift. They will simply have to put up with me.

On a serious note about driving from Dallas to Orlando, I called the Florida Highway Patrol regarding the bottleneck at the I-10 bridge over Escambia Bay at Pensacola. The two eastbound lanes were clobbered by Hurricane Ivan and all traffic has been routed to one lane each way using the westbound span.

A very helpful officer told me that bridge traffic was running smoothly, but to add an hour for delays. That's pretty significant in my opinion, so I considered alternate routes. But as far as I can tell, driving I-20/US 80 to Montgomery (remember I'm coming from Dallas) and US 231 down to Marianna isn't any faster.

Has anyone driven I-10 through Pensacola lately and have some input?Alternate route suggestions would also be appreciated.

 

[ALostBoy]

Hi,
Since no one else has replied I'll tell you what I know.
We went to Destin for Thanksgiving on our way down
we went Hwy 98 along the coast but on the way back
we went up the Mid bay bridge which made us have to
go across the west bound escambia bay bridge. Two
lanes are open on the west bound side but the east
bound bridge only had one lane. The traffic on the east
bound side was backed up but I don't think it was an
hour extra wait, maybe 20 to 25 min. when I came by.
We went by the bridge on a monday around noon.
I hope this helps.

 

[HollisterSweetie]

Has anyone driven I-10 through Pensacola lately and have some input?Alternate route suggestions would also be appreciated.

Not since the hurricane. But the only time we've driven from here(im from dallas too) to WDW through Pensacola it took at least an hour to get through that area. Flying sure is alot better and more convenient

 

[MelessaG]

I won't lie, going to Orlando the bridge was a big delay in our trip (we also hit it at a bad time, Saturday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend), but coming home it was a non-issue. As someone else posted, it is only the east-bound bridge that is one-lane. The west-bound bridge was no problem. Just make sure you've had a good leg-stretching stop before you get there. (we had just done a picnic in Mobile) I hate crossing long bridges in cars, so it was torture for me. But the kids had their DVD player going and didn't seem to mind.

 

[Flexan]

Thanks for the responses!

I budgeted an extra hour for traffic crossing the bridge and was pleasantly surprised. Our trip across Escambia Bay eastbound (one lane only) took 17 minutes from the time the traffic slowed down to merge into the single lane. That was around 11:00am on December 22, 2004.

The trip back (westbound - two lanes open) on January 2, 2005 around 5:00pm involved no traffic backup at all.

Thanks again!

 

[trampslady]

How long did the drive take from Dallas? We are driving for the first time in March. Which route did you take?

Thanks-Theresa

 

[Flexan]

How long did the drive take from Dallas? We are driving for the first time in March. Which route did you take?

Thanks-Theresa

The drive took us two days. We left at 11:30am on Dec 21 and stopped in Hattiesburg, MS for the night around 8:30pm. We left Hattiesburg around 9:00am the next morning and arrived around 7:30pm which includes the hour we jumped ahead. All in all, it took us 18.5 hours driving time, rest stops included. Your time may vary, especially if you keep up with the 85-90mph drivers on I-10.

Good luck and enjoy the scenery!