Traffic isn't supposed to be bad but a warning for anyone traveling on I-4 on Saturday.
I-4 to host weekend hurricane drill
The Associated Press
August 13, 2002, 12:13 PM EDT
TAMPA -- Interstate 4 will be the site of a weekend drill to determine how long a one-way evacuation of the Tampa Bay area would take if a hurricane was bearing down.
About 100 National Guardsmen, 125 Florida Highway Patrol troopers and 50 to 60 Department of Transportation workers will take up posts along the 63 miles of highway from Tampa to Orlando on Saturday.
While trying not to interfere with actual weekend motorists, they will simulate coordination and control of traffic as they would if a hurricane were approaching the coast.
The unarmed soldiers, along with Humvees, trucks and other equipment, will be stationed at highway ramps, and troopers and DOT workers will share space with nearly 3,000 orange traffic cones stacked along the freeway shoulders.
"We're going to have everything we would deploy if we were reversing the flow on the interstate," said Marian Pscion, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.
Thirty-five lighted message boards will let motorists know what's going on. No barricades will be put in place, and the freeway will remain open to normal traffic, officials said.
When Hurricane Floyd moved up the state's east coast in 1999 and 3 million people fled, the resulting gridlock spawned this unusual plan.
Similar exercises have been conducted on other state highways, starting with Interstate 10 between Jacksonville and Tallahassee two years ago.
The evacuation plan is a last resort, to be used only before a Category 4 or 5 hurricane makes landfall. A Category 4 has maximum sustained winds of 131 to 155 mph; Category 5 winds exceed 155 mph.
Hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
The test will start at 8 a.m. Saturday and is expected to last six to eight hours.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-interstate081302.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
I-4 to host weekend hurricane drill
The Associated Press
August 13, 2002, 12:13 PM EDT
TAMPA -- Interstate 4 will be the site of a weekend drill to determine how long a one-way evacuation of the Tampa Bay area would take if a hurricane was bearing down.
About 100 National Guardsmen, 125 Florida Highway Patrol troopers and 50 to 60 Department of Transportation workers will take up posts along the 63 miles of highway from Tampa to Orlando on Saturday.
While trying not to interfere with actual weekend motorists, they will simulate coordination and control of traffic as they would if a hurricane were approaching the coast.
The unarmed soldiers, along with Humvees, trucks and other equipment, will be stationed at highway ramps, and troopers and DOT workers will share space with nearly 3,000 orange traffic cones stacked along the freeway shoulders.
"We're going to have everything we would deploy if we were reversing the flow on the interstate," said Marian Pscion, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.
Thirty-five lighted message boards will let motorists know what's going on. No barricades will be put in place, and the freeway will remain open to normal traffic, officials said.
When Hurricane Floyd moved up the state's east coast in 1999 and 3 million people fled, the resulting gridlock spawned this unusual plan.
Similar exercises have been conducted on other state highways, starting with Interstate 10 between Jacksonville and Tallahassee two years ago.
The evacuation plan is a last resort, to be used only before a Category 4 or 5 hurricane makes landfall. A Category 4 has maximum sustained winds of 131 to 155 mph; Category 5 winds exceed 155 mph.
Hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
The test will start at 8 a.m. Saturday and is expected to last six to eight hours.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-interstate081302.story?coll=orl-home-headlines