ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Ala. — Drivers heading south on Interstate 65 through Escambia County should plan for a week of single-lane traffic beginning Monday.
Bridge rail repairs are scheduled to start Monday, Sept. 21, on southbound I-65 at mile marker 59, near Wet Weather Creek. The contractor expects the project to take approximately seven calendar days.
What Drivers Will Encounter
- Location: Southbound I-65 at mile marker 59, near Wet Weather Creek, in Escambia County.
- Start date: Monday, Sept. 21.
- Duration: Approximately seven calendar days.
- Lanes: Southbound I-65 will be reduced to one lane through the project area.
- Lane closure: The left lane will remain closed for the duration of the project.
- Oversize loads: No permits will be issued for loads more than 12 feet wide while the work is underway.
The Alabama Department of Transportation advises motorists traveling southbound on I-65 to expect slower traffic and to allow extra time when approaching the work zone.
Why Seven Calendar Days, Not Seven Working Days
The distinction matters for planning. A seven-calendar-day schedule includes weekends, which means the closure is expected to span the coming weekend rather than pause for it.
Calendar-day contracts are common on repair work where the traffic control setup itself is a significant cost and a significant hazard. Taking down a lane closure and reinstalling it repeatedly introduces risk for both crews and drivers, so on shorter jobs contractors frequently leave the configuration in place and work continuously.
The Left-Lane Configuration
Closing the left lane rather than the right is a choice dictated by where the work sits. Bridge rail — the barrier along the edge of a bridge structure — runs along both outside edges of a span, and repairs to the median-side rail require crews to occupy the left lane.
For drivers, a left-lane closure on an interstate has a particular character. Traffic that would normally use the left lane to pass must merge right, which tends to compress into a slow-moving single file well before the actual work zone. The practical advice in that situation is the same as always: merge early, maintain following distance, and do not treat the taper as a final opportunity to gain a few car lengths.
The Oversize Load Restriction
The suspension of permits for loads wider than 12 feet is the detail most likely to affect commercial traffic planning. Oversize permits in Alabama are issued route by route, and a restriction on a segment of I-65 forces carriers hauling wide loads to either reroute or reschedule.
For freight moving between Mobile and Montgomery, I-65 is the direct corridor. A week-long restriction on wide loads pushes that traffic onto alternatives such as U.S. 31, which parallels I-65 through this part of the state but carries slower speeds, more intersections and more restrictive clearances.
Where Mile Marker 59 Is
Mile markers on Alabama interstates count upward from the state’s southern or western border. On I-65, mile marker 0 sits at the interstate’s southern terminus in Mobile, which places mile marker 59 in Escambia County, well north of Mobile and south of Evergreen.
Escambia County is largely rural, and the stretch of I-65 running through it carries a substantial mix of through traffic, including freight moving between the Gulf Coast and points north, and travelers running between Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham.
Wet Weather Creek is one of many small watercourses crossed by bridge structures along this corridor. Each crossing has its own rail and deck, and each requires periodic maintenance.
Why Bridge Rail Gets Repaired
Bridge rail is a safety device, not a cosmetic one. It is designed to redirect a vehicle that leaves the travel lane and keep it from going over the edge of a structure.
Rails degrade over time from weather exposure, and they are also damaged by impacts — sometimes from crashes, sometimes from contact with oversize vehicles. A damaged rail no longer performs to the standard it was designed for, which is why repairs are scheduled rather than deferred indefinitely.
Work Zone Safety
ALDOT encourages motorists to slow down, stay alert and use caution when traveling through the construction area.
Work zone crashes remain a persistent problem nationally, and the majority of people killed in them are drivers and passengers rather than construction workers. Speed and inattention are the two factors that appear most frequently in work zone crash data.
Alabama, like most states, increases fines for traffic violations committed in active work zones.
Planning Around It
Drivers with flexibility in their schedule may want to avoid the segment during peak travel periods. Those who cannot should allow extra time and expect the slowdown to begin well in advance of the work zone itself.
The project is expected to be complete roughly a week after it begins, though weather can extend calendar-day schedules on outdoor concrete and steel work.