(The Associated Press circulated the following article by David Royse on September 21.)
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Ordinarily, trucker Bruce Shelby would take Interstate 10 to get across the Florida Panhandle. But with Hurricane Ivan bringing down an interstate bridge, that trip has become a long, expensive nightmare.
What should have been a 16-hour run from Jackson, Miss., to Miami has turned into a two-day ordeal that includes a three-hour tour of the rural Panhandle town of Milton.
“I’m 100-and-something miles out of route,” Shelby said. “I was just in traffic where you couldn’t go nowhere – go in circles and circles.”
Washed-out and damaged bridges, twisted rail lines and closed roads have already started to affect the flow of goods to, from and through the Florida Panhandle.
State officials say it’s too early to know how much of an impact the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan will have on commercial transportation. But they are scrambling to minimize it by getting an I-10 replacement span over Escambia Bay opened in less than a month.
“We’re working around the clock to get the transportation system up and running again,” said Florida Transportation Department spokesman Dick Kane, adding the target date for the job’s completion is Oct. 11 and the contract includes a $250,000 daily incentive for quick work.
The repair will involve removing pieces from the eastbound span and placing them into the missing sections of the westbound part of the bridge. It would still be incredibly slow-going, making the highway one lane in each direction on a very heavily traveled route.
For now, trucks going east are being routed off I-10 in Mobile, Ala., up 170 miles to Montgomery, Ala., and then back down to I-10 near Chipley, Fla., in all about a 310-mile trip. Usually, the drive from Mobile to Chipley on I-10 would be about 160 miles. The recommended detour works the opposite going west.
Many truckers will probably try to use U.S. 90, which roughly parallels I-10, but the road is narrow, goes through several towns with stop lights and is suddenly crowded.
“It’s most certainly going to cost money,” Jim Long, vice president of the Florida Trucking Association, said of the Ivan-related detours. “It’s going to cost the trucking companies money, it’s going to cost the shippers, it’s going to cost the consumer money.”
The transportation problems go beyond I-10. Some freight is not moving on CSX trains between New Orleans and Tallahassee because of the storm, although trains delivering building materials are using the tracks.
It’s not just commercial traffic that’s affected either. Commuters in Pensacola and along the Panhandle will face delays, as will anyone trying to fly or ride the rails out of here.
The Pensacola airport is closed and it is unclear when it will reopen. Amtrak service that originates in New Orleans headed east is suspended through the end of the week. Rail operations between Pensacola and Tallahassee are expected to be out up to two weeks.
Traffic was light Monday in Pensacola – power is still out around most of the town so people aren’t going to work much, and schools are closed. But soon, they’ll begin venturing out and will find roads closed or blocked by trees and traffic lights that don’t work, slowing down everything.
“Allow yourself more time to get where you’re going,” Escambia County spokeswoman Sonya Smith urged residents Monday.
For people who live on barrier islands, it could be months before their drive is normal.
The Garcon Point Bridge linking Milton and Midway has a sinkhole on it and a slice of the northbound lane of the Navarre Beach causeway is buckled.
The only way residents can get out to the barrier island town of Navarre Beach now is to walk across the bridge, or hitch a ride on a National Guard all-terrain vehicle.
“They’re trying to give rides, but there’s just too many people,” 42-year-old Elizabeth Morgan said as she, her husband and 8-year-old son hiked back to the mainland after surveying their house on Navarre Beach.
Repairs to the beach community of 1,500 people won’t get under way until the bridge is strong enough to support heavy equipment.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters will visit Pensacola Tuesday and will announce an emergency federal grant for Pensacola Regional Airport and the I-10 Bridge.
Shelby and his fellow truckers in the meantime will spend more time on the road in the Panhandle.
“I’ve drove around this town for three or four hours trying to figure out how to get on (Interstate) 10,” Shelby said. “I’m lost.”