Interstate 10 in Florida

Interstate 10
Route information
	Maintained by Florida DOT
Length:	362.262 mi (583.00 km)
Existed:	1958 – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-10 at Alabama state line
	I-110 in Pensacola; I-75 near Lake City; I-295 in Jacksonville
East end:	I-95 in Jacksonville
Location
Counties:	Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Suwannee, Columbia, Baker, Nassau, Duval
Highway system

This article is about the section of Interstate 10 in Florida. For the entire length of the highway, see Interstate 10.

The 362.262 miles (583.004 km) of Interstate 10 in Florida is the eastern most section of the east–west 2,460.34 miles (3,959.53 km) Interstate 10 in the Southern United States. It is also the eastern end of the Interstate Highway known as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, one of three coast to coast interstates, along with I-80 and I-90. The highway runs east from the Alabama border, traveling through the Panhandle of Florida, serving the major cities of Pensacola, Tallahassee, Lake City, and ending at Jacksonville, and carries the hidden Florida Department of Transportation designation of State Road 8.

Route description [edit]

Eastbound view of I-10 near Lake City and Interstate 75

The interstate runs roughly parallel to U.S. 90 but is a more direct route, bypassing the central cores of the cities. The interstate also runs through some of the least populated areas of the state.

The western terminus of Interstate 10 is the Florida and Alabama line at the Perdido River, just west of Pensacola, in Escambia County. Exit 7A, Florida State Road 297 (southbound), gives access to the Pensacola Naval Air Station and the National Museum of Naval Aviation. At exit 12, I-10 serves as the northern terminus of Interstate 110, a spur route to central Pensacola.

The eastern terminus is located at Interstate 95 in Downtown Jacksonville with an "End" I-10 sign.

History [edit]

Construction [edit]

I-10 west at the interchange for US-Alt 17 south in Jacksonville

Prior to the construction of Interstate 10 U.S. Route 90 was the main east–west highway across the state.

The first section of I-10 in Florida was completed between Sanderson and Jacksonville in 1961. Construction on points westward continued in 1962. The route between Sanderson and Winfield was completed in 1963. By 1967, construction had been completed from the Alabama State Line to SR 87, and under construction from Falmouth to I-75. New construction extending I-10 east from SR 87 to Mossy Head began in 1968. The Falmouth to I-75 segment opened in 1969. Construction began in 1970 further extending I-10 westward from Mossy Head to DeFuniak Springs. New construction began in 1973 from DeFuniak Springs to Caryville and from Drifton to Capitola; the segment between Drifton and Falmouth opened that year. The Capitola to Drifton segment was completed the following year. Construction began between Caryville and Chipley in 1974, and from Chipley to Midway in 1975. The segment between Chipley and Midway was completed in 1977 except for a small portion between Kynesville and Oakdale; in 1978, the entire length of I-10, as well as the I-110 spur in Pensacola across the state opened along its original planned route.^[2]

During the planning stage of construction, I-10 was placed just north of the central business district of Tallahassee, roughly along the current route of US 90 through town, while later a spur route was proposed to go to the core of the city. Both of these proposals were dropped and a route across the north side of the city was chosen. In 2008 the interstate stretch in Tallahassee was expanded to six lanes to alleviate congestion.

In 2002, I-10, along with most of Florida's interstates, switched over from a sequential exit numbering system to a mileage based exit numbering system.^[3]

Rest area security concerns [edit]

Interstate 10 west in Tallahassee

In 1993, a British tourist was killed at the Jackson County Rest Area in a botched burglary by teens.^[4]^[5] As a result, Florida rest stops were either patrolled or closed for at least two years when lawmakers approved cut-backs.^[6] A number of rest areas are currently regularly patrolled at night by armed security, often private, due to a resurgence in rest area-related violent crime.^[7]

Hurricane Ivan [edit]

On September 16, 2004, Hurricane Ivan made landfall near Pensacola, with the resulting storm surge causing heavy damage to the Interstate 10 bridge across Escambia Bay. As much as a quarter mile (400 m) of the bridge collapsed into the bay consisting of 58 bridge segments with an additional 66 segments knocked out of alignment, with most of the damage coming from the eastbound lanes.^[8] A $26.5 million project was awarded the following day to Gilbert Southern/Massman and to the Parsons Corporation to make emergency repairs to the bridge. Work was completed on October 4 on the westbound bridge, restoring two-way traffic seven days ahead of schedule. The more heavily damaged eastbound bridge was completely repaired on November 20, just 66 days after Hurricane Ivan made landfall, and 27 days ahead of schedule. The contractor received $1.5 million in bonuses for the early completion. The commercial truck detour sent truck traffic into Alabama and I-65 to avoid the bridges.

The causeway that carries U.S. Highway 90 across the northern part of the same bay was also heavily damaged.

Rest areas and truck comfort centers (scalehouse) [edit]

Truck comfort center and weigh-in-motion (WIM) scale. 3.2 miles (5.1 km) east of the AL. state line at mile marker (MM) 3
FLORIDA WELCOME CENTER (Escambia County Welcome Center) mm 4
Rest Areas between Exits 28 & 31 (Santa Rosa County Rest Area) mm 29
Rest Areas between Exits 56 & 70 (Okaloosa County Rest Area) mm 58 (EB) and mm 61 (WB)
Rest Areas (Holmes County Rest Area) MM 96
Rest Areas between Exits 130 & 136 (Jackson County Rest Area) mm 136
Truck comfort center and WIM Jackson County Truck Comfort Station) MM 155
Rest Area between Exits 158 & 166. The single rest area is located on the eastbound side; however, a ramp allows for access by westbound travelers.^[9] mm 162
Rest Areas between Exits 192 & 196 (Leon County Rest Area) mm 194
Rest Areas between Exits 233 & 241 (Jefferson County Rest Area) mm 233
Truck comfort center (Madison County Truck Comfort Station ) mm 264
Rest Areas between Exits 262 & 275 (Madison County Rest Area) mm 265
Rest Areas between Exits 292 & 296 A-B (Suwannee/Columbia County Rest Area) mm 294 (EB) mm 295 (WB)
Rest Areas between Exits 303 & 324 (Baker County Rest Area in Osceola National Forest) mm 318^[10]

Exit list [edit]

County	Location	Mile^[11]	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Escambia	Cantonment	5.523	5	US 90 Alt. (Nine Mile Road Road) – Beulah, Ferry Pass
	Ensley	7.092	7	SR 297 (Pine Forest Road) – Perdido Key, Pensacola NAS	Signed as exits 7A (south) and 7B (north) eastbound
		10.270	10	US 29 – Pensacola, Cantonment	Signed as exits 10A (south) and 10B (north)
		12.422	12	I-110 south – Pensacola, Pensacola Beach
	Ferry Pass	12.928	13	SR 291 (Davis Highway)	Previously signed as Pensacola, University of West Florida
	Ferry Pass	16.495	17	US 90 – Pensacola, Pace
Escambia Bay		Escambia Bay Bridge
Santa Rosa	Avalon Beach	21.700	22	SR 281 – Milton, Gulf Breeze
	Pace	25.946	26	CR 191 – Milton, Bagdad
	Ward Basin	28.415	28	CR 89 – Milton
	Gulf Breeze-Harold	31.265	31	SR 87 – Fort Walton Beach, Navarre, Milton, Blackwater River State Park
Okaloosa	Holt	45.072	45	CR 189 – Holt, Blackwater River State Park
Okaloosa	Crestview	56.300	56	SR 85 – Crestview, Niceville, Eglin AFB
Walton	Bottle Branch	69.482	70	SR 285 – Niceville, Eglin AFB
Walton	DeFuniak Springs	84.588	85	US 331 – DeFuniak Springs, Freeport
Holmes	Ponce de Leon	96.018	96	SR 81 – Ponce de Leon
Washington		104.038	104	CR 279 – Caryville
Holmes		111.685	112	SR 79 – Bonifay, Panama City Beach
Washington	Crow	119.680	120	SR 77 – Chipley, Panama City
Jackson		129.833	130	US 231 – Cottondale, Panama City
	Marianna	136.441	136	SR 276 – Marianna
	Marianna	142.126	142	SR 71 – Marianna, Blountstown
		152.041	152	SR 69 – Grand Ridge, Blountstown
		158.011	158	CR 286 – Sneads
Apalachicola River
Gadsden		165.729	166	CR 270A – Chattahoochee, Lake Seminole
		174.093	174	SR 12 – Gretna, Greensboro
		180.963	181	SR 267 – Quincy
	Midway	191.949	192	US 90 – Quincy, Midway, Tallahassee
Leon	Tallahassee	195.731	196	SR 263 (Capital Circle) – Regional Airport
		199.010	199	US 27 (Monroe Street) - State Capitol
		202.678	203	US 319 / SR 61 – Tallahassee, Thomasville
		208.570	209	US 90 – Tallahassee, Monticello	Signed as exits 209A (west) and 209B (east); Florida State University, Florida A&M University
Jefferson	Lloyd	216.737	217	SR 59
	Drifton	225.055	225	US 19 (Florida-Georgia Parkway) – Monticello, Perry, Thomasville
		232.849	233	CR 257
Madison		241.217	241	US 221 – Greenville, Perry
		251.520	251	SR 14 – Madison, Perry
		258.106	258	SR 53 – Madison
		261.771	262	CR 255 – Lee
Suwannee River
Suwannee		274.642	275	US 90 – Live Oak, Lee
		282.770	283	US 129 – Live Oak, Jasper
		292.127	292	CR 137 – Wellborn
Columbia	Springville^[12]	296.199	296	I-75 – Tampa, Valdosta	Signed as exits 296A (south) and 296B (north)
	Five Points	301.293	301	US 41 – Lake City, White Springs
	Five Points	303.458	303	US 441 – Lake City, Fargo
Baker		323.827	324	US 90 – Sanderson, Olustee
		326.750	327	CR 229 – Sanderson, Raiford
		332.782	333	CR 125 – Glen St. Mary
	Macclenny	335.145	335	SR 121 – Macclenny, Lake Butler
		336.312	336	SR 228 – Macclenny, Maxville
Nassau	No major junctions
Duval	Jacksonville	343.879	343	US 301 – Baldwin, Starke
		350.370	350	SR 23 south – Whitehouse, Cecil Field	Interchange for the Brannen Field-Chaffee Expressway opened on October 1, 2009.^[13] Signed as "Cecil Commerce Center Parkway"
		352.096	351	Chaffee Road – Whitehouse	Former SR 23 interchange, SR 23 relocated to Brannen Field-Chaffee Expressway (See above)
		356.269	355	Cahoon Road South – Marietta	Planned to be closed and replaced with Hammond Boulevard interchange, further west^[14]
		356.838	356	I-295 – St. Augustine, Savannah, International Airport
		357.910	357	SR 103 (Lane Avenue)
		359.185	358	SR 111 (Cassat Avenue) / Edgewood Avenue
		359.895	359	Lenox Avenue, Edgewood Avenue	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		360.773	360	SR 129 (McDuff Avenue)
		361.046	361	US 17 south (Roosevelt Boulevard) – NAS Jacksonville	West end of US 17 overlap, westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		361.642	362A	Stockton Street
		362.262	362B-C	I-95 – Daytona Beach, Downtown Jacksonville, Savannah, Jax Beaches	East end of US 17 overlap, US 17 continues on I-95 north Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; split into 362B (north) and 362C (south)
Concurrency terminus Closed/former HOV only Incomplete access Tolled/ETC Unopened