I-4 Evacuation Saturday A Test, And Only A Test

August 13, 2002
By JIM SLOAN jsloan@tampatrib.com

TAMPA - Interstate 4 will take on the look of a war zone Saturday, complete with National Guard troops, Humvees and olive drab trucks.

It's all just a hurricane drill, though, as the state figures out how long it will take to turn 63 miles of interstate from Tampa to Orlando into a one-way eastbound escape route.

When Hurricane Floyd moved up the state's east coast in 1999 and 3 million people fled, the resulting gridlock spawned this unusual plan.

To test response times, about 100 soldiers, 125 Florida Highway Patrol troopers and 50 to 60 Department of Transportation workers will take up posts along the highway from Tampa to Orlando on Saturday.

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.

``We wanted to get the word out,'' Pscion said of the test. ``With Sept. 11 and everything, we didn't want anybody to think something was happening to the country.''

Motorists won't be delayed - except for the inevitable gawkers - officials said. No barricades will be put in place, and the freeway will remain open to normal traffic.

During a hurricane, it could take hundreds of police and transportation workers eight hours to get westbound traffic off the highway and set up portable message signs, barricades and traffic cones, officials said.

A couple of soldiers, each given four hours of traffic control training, and a truck will be posted at each freeway ramp. During the real thing, their job would be to keep millions of frustrated motorists from getting unruly.

``You can understand the aggravation, the uncertainty,'' Florida National Guard Maj. Eric Lefevre said. ``There could be some anger, so the forces and their equipment kind of help calm things down.''

The 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.

The test will start at 8 a.m. and is expected to last six to eight hours.

Similar exercises have been conducted on other state highways, starting with Interstate 10 between Jacksonville and Tallahassee two years ago.

Reporter Jim Sloan can be reached at (813) 259-7691.
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