Heads Up: I-95 is closed outside of Jacksonville, wildfire

[Bianca and Bernard]

https://www.news4jax.com/news/wildfires/holiday-travel-nightmare-as-i-95-shut-down-by-wildfire


As millions of travelers hit the road for Memorial Day weekend, they'll have to navigate around a Northeast Florida traffic nightmare. A 450-acre wildfire burning near the Duval-Nassau County Line has shut down Interstate 95 for 11 miles in both directions.

The interstate is closed from State Road 200 in Yulee to I-295 in North Jacksonville because of the Yellow Bluff Fire, and visibility was reduced to just 40 yards because of the smoke, according to Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Dylan Bryan.

He said FHP is working with the Florida Forest Service and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department to determine when it's safe to reopen the highway.

For now, according to officials, the detours include:

• I-95 northbound: shut down at I-295 exit 362. At I-295, drivers can go either east or west.
• I-95 southbound: east on S.R. 200, south on U.S. 17

There are two other ways to get into and out of Nassau County:

• Heckscher Drive to the Buccaneer Trail over the Nassau Sound Bridge and west on S.R. 200
• Interstate 10 to U.S. 301 into Callahan and then east on S.R. 200

VIEW: Interactive Traffic Map and live DOT cams

Heading to the airport?

• From I-295 northbound, take U.S. 17/North Main Street and then take a left onto Airport Center Road
• From I-295 southbound, exit on Duval Road to Airport Road

Additionally, the Georgia Department of Transportation has agreed to let drivers exit the southbound lanes of I-95 at Exit 29 (the Waycross/Jekyll Island exit) so that traffic can be routed west toward Nahunta and then south in order to avoid the backup that is occurring on I-95.

As of 5:40 p.m. Thursday, southbound traffic was backed up to Exit 1 (the St. Marys Road exit) in Camden County. GDOT said an accident involving one car and two trucks at that location occurred about 8 p.m.

 

[rg35]

She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side