Escambia Bay Bridge

Escambia Bay Bridge
Coordinates 30°31′08″N 87°08′39″W / 30.518947°N 87.144069°W / 30.518947; -87.144069Coordinates: 30°31′08″N 87°08′39″W / 30.518947°N 87.144069°W / 30.518947; -87.144069
Carries 6 lanes of I-10
Crosses Escambia Bay
Locale Escambia County / Santa Rosa County, near Pensacola, Florida, USA
Maintained by Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)
ID number 480213 (eastbound)
480214 (westbound)
Characteristics
Design Reinforced concrete girder bridge
Total length 13,820 feet (4,210 m) (eastbound)
13,736 feet (4,187 m) (westbound)
Clearance below 65 feet (20 m)
History
Opened 1968 (original bridge)
2007 (current bridge)
Statistics
Daily traffic 50,000[1]

The Escambia Bay Bridge is a six-lane freeway bridge that carries Interstate 10 (I-10) across Escambia Bay near Pensacola, Florida.

History

Replacement of I-10 bridges over Escambia Bay

The original four-lane bridge opened in 1968. It consisted of twin spans of two lanes each with no shoulders and was heavily damaged during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.[2] The storm surge knocked a total of 58 spans off the eastbound and westbound bridges and misaligned another 66 spans, causing the bridge to close to traffic in both directions.[3] Traffic normally destined for the bridge was rerouted along U.S. Route 90 (US 90) for over two months while temporary spans were built along the bridge's existing substructure, resulting in severe traffic jams. The original bridge, with its temporary spans, reopened in November 2004 with traffic reduced to one lane in each direction.

Construction on a new bridge to replace the one damaged by the hurricane began in early 2006. As the original bridge was left in place during construction, the new bridge was routed to the south and has a curved alignment near the beginning and end of each approach. Unlike the previous bridge, the new bridge features a total of six lanes (three eastbound and three westbound) as well as shoulders, modern barrier walls and lighting. The westbound portion of the bridge opened on December 12, 2007.[4]

The bridge connects the northern part of Florida with the Gulf Coast and is used by an estimated 50,000 vehicles per day.

The Scenic Highway bridge that runs over and perpendicular to the I-10 bridge (seen running left to right at the very bottom of the above picture) was also replaced by a new bridge in 2015.

See also

References

  1. ↑ FDOT Florida Traffic Online Accessed May 25, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Bridge Replacement over Escambia Bay". Florida Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  3. ↑ "Repairing Florida's Escambia Bay Bridge". ACP Construction. Archived from the original on January 27, 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  4. ↑ "Replacement of I-10 Bridges". Florida Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
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