Published on Sunday, May 13, 2007
in the Lake City Reporter

Portions of interstates closed because of near-zero visibility

Smoke from wildfires in northern Columbia County forced authorities to close the two major interstate systems running through Columbia County, creating traffic jams along U.S. Highway 90 throughout the day on Saturday.

The Florida Highway Patrol shut down Interstate 10 from U.S. 90 in Sanderson to U.S. Highway 129 in Live Oak, as well as Interstate 75 from U.S. 90 to the Florida-Georgia state line early Saturday.

U.S. Highway 441 north of State Road 100 all the way to the Florida-Georgia line remained closed Saturday as well.

Wildfires have burned in Columbia County since Thursday night, sending a heavy amount of smoke over the Columbia County area. Officials have been worried that the smoke may lead to problems with motorists traveling along the busy roadways.

As of Saturday afternoon, more than 101,700 acres have burned in Columbia and Baker counties.

Several crashes occurred in the morning hours along both Interstate systems, leading authorities to close both roadways when the visibility became nearly zero. The crashes on I-75 and I-10 backed up traffic for about an hour before it was decided to close the roadways.

“There was a series of four crashes within a matter of minutes when Maj. Rick Carpenter thought it was time to close down the interstate system until we can get the smoke situation improved,” said Lt. Mike Burroughs, public information officer for Troop B of the Florida Highway Patrol.

“It was done because the fog and smoke have become so dense and thick on the roadways that law enforcement officials are having to cease their travels because of such poor visibility,” he said.

It's unclear how long the roadways will be closed.

“We're having to monitor such a volatile area and check with forestry to see what the fire is doing and check with weather officials as well,” he said.

With three main arteries of travel currently closed, motorists are having to find alternate routes to reach their destinations.

Alternate roads of travel are currently along U.S. Highway 41 and U.S. Highway 90, but traffic has become deadlocked in some places because of the high volume of vehicles traveling the roadways.

Burroughs said that statewide FHP is advising people traveling north from southern Florida to take Interstate 95 north into Georgia to lessen the congestion in the Columbia County area.

“We have every one of our detour roads packed,” he said. “There is nothing we can do at the moment. We've got signboards placed at different locations here in town, but for now, motorists will have to live with slow travel.”

FHP began allowing a few cars to travel the closed roadways with patrol car escorts Saturday evening, depending on the shift of the winds. The interstate roadways remained closed, however.

Officials advised that several restaurants may be forced to close due to food shortages, especially with Mother's Day today. However, calls by the Lake City Reporter to a half-dozen chain restaurants indicated there were no plans to close early Saturday or close on Sunday.

There were also concerns about possible gas shortages over the next few days if conditions do not clear up. Calls to several gas stations, however, indicated they did not intend to close and trucks with additional fuel were en-route.