Is Interstate 10 along the Gulf Coast repaired from Katrina damage?

Question

Next week we'll be driving from Houston to Orlando, and while we've made that trip many times, we haven't driven over I-10 since it was damaged by Katrina. I know there was significant damage done to the highway over Mobile bay.

Has anyone taken that route? I want to be able to plan for any significant detours.

Answer 1

I use the I-10 Corridor quite a bit -- and plan DEFINITELY on using lots of EXTRA Time in getting over the Bays (both in Alabama and Florida -- especially Pensacola Bay).

Pensacola ended up an Island (basically) after Hurricane Ivan -- it took down the ENTIRE I-10 Bridges, and Hwy 90 was also damaged ....

The Construction Projects are on-going, and a temporary span was pieced together -- but as far as travel time goes -- it can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours (since there are limited lanes in each direction). This situation will NOT improve until the NEW Spans are finished.

I would AVOID crossing during high Traffic Times (like morning rush hours, the Afternoon hours between 4 and 7 PM) because ... when entry to the temporary spans in Florida are down to just one lane -- you know that the traffic is backing up well into Pensacola.

There is also construction going on around the various exits too -- which were seriously damaged during Ivan, Dennis, and Katrina -- so the Severe Damage taken in 2004 (IVAN) was made even worse with Dennis (early 2005) and then Katrina (2005).

The simplest and easiest way around the Pensacola Bay route is to detour to Hwy 98 Eastbound, then take either Hwy 87 North to I-10 to get back on (it will definitely be faster doing this for sure than trying to deal with the eastbound traffic on the temporary spans across Pensacola Bay). After that -- you will also have to deal on this route -- with the Damage from Francis, Jeanne and Charley that is still being repaired from the 2004 Hurricane Season.

Answer 2

I-10 isn't too terribly bad in most of Mississippi; it was far enough from the beach to not get too much damage.