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Published on Saturday, August 17, 2002
in the Florida Times Union
TAMPA, Fla. - In the event of a major hurricane, state agencies could reverse lanes on Interstate 4 for evacuation in about six hours, officials said Saturday after a large-scale training exercise.
With a major storm bearing down on Florida's west coast, all I-4 lanes would be converted to eastbound in the 63-mile stretch between Tampa and Orlando to help evacuate residents. Saturday's exercise was designed to test response times and communication among agencies involved.
More than 100 Florida Highway Patrol troopers, about 60 Florida Department of Transportation employees and 140 members of the National Guard participated in the drill, which did not close any lanes or disrupt traffic, officials said. Lighted message boards told motorists what was happening.
National Guard soldiers and troopers were dispatched at about 8 a.m. to ramps all along the stretch and DOT workers responded with traffic cones and barricades to simulate reversing the lanes.
"Everything seemed to go fine," FHP spokesman Lt. Sterling King said. "We haven't had any problems."
DOT spokeswoman Marian Pscion said the drill will be studied, but initial reports indicate it went smoothly. She said it showed the lanes could be reversed, checked by officials and readied for traffic in about six hours.
"We learned a lot," said Jon Myatt, spokesman for the Florida National Guard. "This is the first time we've done it in the I-4 corridor, and we realize there's always going to be something you learn. But we know we can tactically go out and reverse a lane."
Myatt said officials also will need to study other factors involved in such a large-scale evacuation, such as how and where to house people after they reach Orlando.
Officials stressed that such an evacuation is unlikely and would come only if a Category 4 or 5 hurricane - with sustained winds of at least 130 mph - was heading directly for the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
Saturday's was the last of similar evacuation drills that started two years ago. Following Florida's brush with Hurricane Floyd in 1999, which resulted in the largest evacuation in U.S. history, Gov. Jeb Bush asked state officials test reverse-lane operations.
"We want to reassure Floridians that we stand ready for disasters of any kind," Bush said.