I-10 Pensacola, FL damaged?

[greendoor678]

Does anyone have up-to-date information, or a link to information regarding the damage to the bridge on I-10 in Pensacola?

I've heard that it was damaged during Ivan (or was it Frances?) and that drive times are incredibly slow in this area. One source tells me that the drive time in this area is so slow due to the damage, that it is actual adding HOURS to the drive time through Pensacola.

My husband and I will be driving to Orlando from Houston, TX in a couple of weeks and are considering alternate routes to avoid this area.
Any tips, alt routes, reports, etc regarding this is GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Regards,
JBates

 

[CarolA]

I - 10 is in HORRIBLE shape. The bridge over Escambia Bay is closed.

The Florida DOT site has this on it

For information on road closures for the Northwest Florida area, please call
1-888-638-0250 Ext. 637
This is a motorist assistance line.


There is also a PDF file of detours. It is going to be down a while.
www.dot.state.fl.us

 

[greendoor678]

Thank you for this info!

Any other info from readers on this topic is appreciated too!

 

[Lora]

Originally posted by greendoor678
My husband and I will be driving to Orlando from Houston, TX in a couple of weeks and are considering alternate routes to avoid this area.
Any tips, alt routes, reports, etc regarding this is GREATLY APPRECIATED!

If you want, I can come and post an update after we make our trip through there in few days. We'll probably hit that area mid-day on Saturday. I have another detour from AAA that sends us northeast from New Orleans and skips over I-10 for a lot longer than the link above. At this point, I'm not sure which one we'll take. We have a gps, so we'll be able to get a good track and will have info. on the time it takes, speed traveled etc. I'll be happy to post once we're settled into our hotel Sat. eve. (2nd)- or Sunday evening (3rd) at the latest.

If you re-post to this thread around that time, it will help me to remember.

 

[greendoor678]

thanks for offering to give us an I-10 trip report!
I will post again to remind you, as you requested.


Since we live in Dallas, we may skip our pre-Disney drive to Houston and just depart from Dallas and avoid I-10 all together.
We were planning to stay and visit with my family in Houston before taking off to Orlando, but that may have to change!

Looking forward to hearing about your drive!
Be safe and Have fun!

 

[mareed]

I'm definitely interested in hearing back from anyone who takes the recommended detour. It doesn't look to be too far, but it could probably get pretty bad depending on the traffic situation. We'll be driving from Houston in December.

 

[greendoor678]

I would also like to know if I-75S got any damage during the storms.

????

Any more reports re: I-10 ?

 

[greendoor678]

Posted by Lora:

If you want, I can come and post an update after we make our trip through there in few days. We'll probably hit that area mid-day on Saturday. I have another detour from AAA that sends us northeast from New Orleans and skips over I-10 for a lot longer than the link above. At this point, I'm not sure which one we'll take. We have a gps, so we'll be able to get a good track and will have info. on the time it takes, speed traveled etc. I'll be happy to post once we're settled into our hotel Sat. eve. (2nd)- or Sunday evening (3rd) at the latest.

Hope ya'll made it safely and are having a great time.
We will be leaving this Friday and are still trying to decide our route.

 

[KathyTX]

The damage to I-10 in Pensacola during Ivan was astounding...

 

[Time4disney]

I've read on a site that one of the bridges that crosses the bay may open on Oct. 11. It will be one lane going each way but even that would be better than having to take a detour. I know someone who will be traveling I-10 through the Pensacola detour on Friday, Oct. 8th. I will be keeping in touch with them to get the first hand report on the detour conditions because I know someone else who will be driving to WDW on Sun. Oct. 10. Lets hope that at least one bridge opens soon.......I'll be driving through Pensacola in Nov.

 

[Lora]

We arrived this afternoon around 2pm. We drove through the detour yesterday (10/2) around 5:40 pm. The detour is well marked and begins at exit 5. There is another detour that comes first for truck traffic. The whole detour took about 40 minutes. I forget the exact milage of the detour, but it replaces 17 miles of inter-state driving.

The first section of the detour will take you along a divided 4-lane road that has several traffic lights and businesses. It was fairly slow moving, but not too bad. Along this route, there was plenty of storm damage. There were also brush collection/burning/chipping stations, so there was some truck traffic for that.

The second part of the detour is when you reach the top of the bay. You can see the damaged bridge in the distance, but it's really too far to tell anything is wrong with it. This section has fewer stops for a while. The last section is a 2-lane highway with some traffic lights.

I wouldn't hesitate to take the detour as suggested in a post above. I'm pretty sure someone included the link with the directions and map. Even without it, you should be able to follow the detour signs....they're about the only signs still standing.

We're glad to be here. I don't remember it being this crowded in Oct. a couple years ago - but we've only gotten to Epcot so far and it may have been just the F&W festival crowd.

 

[CarolA]

I have a feeling the two lane bridge would be just as slow if not slower then the two lane brige. YOu know what will happen. A good quarter of the drivers will wait until the LAST second to merge causing huge slow downs. (People who drive to the end of anything like that are given an opportunity to BUY my car! I won't let them in... why is their time so much more valuable?) I have seen delays of several hours here due to one lane closures on the interstates.

 

[greendoor678]

Thanks for the info, everyone!


I believe we've decided to skip driving I-10 on the way to Florida since we will be leaving from Dallas.
We will drive I-10 on the way back since we won't be on a schedule.
I'll let ya'll know how it goes when we return on the 17th.

Thanks again!

 

[perdidobay]

The 1-10 bridge opened back up today (westbound)
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/blogs/stormteam/2004/10/i-10-bridge-reopens-gov-bush-thanks.html