GDOT: Traffic volume improving on I-95 as Milton approaches Florida

CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) – Traffic is steady on Interstate 95 as there are still many Floridians heading north to evacuate from Hurricane Milton, but the volume of vehicles has improved.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), traffic volume is up just 23 percent on Wednesday – an improvement compared to 89 percent reported on Tuesday.

A few Floridians opened up about their travels to the Hostess City. They told WSAV that traffic hasn’t been terrible, but it’s the least of their worries.

“Traffic wasn’t too bad last night, fortunately. Every once in a while, there was an accident, and then you’d be sitting for 15 or 20 minutes… other than that, it was moving,” Donna Andres of Vero Beach said.

“We saw the horror stories for I-75. That was bad. So, we went on 95, the backways up into 95. And then we just sailed right along until we got into Savannah,” Mary Alice Conway said.

Conway and her neighbor and best friend, Dianne Plant, left their mobile home park in Ocala Tuesday morning and made it to the Hostess City that night.

They say their biggest struggle was finding a gas station with fuel in Florida.

“We were waiting in one line at a 7-Eleven and we were waiting in line, not moving for a full like 10 minutes. The line didn’t even move,” Conway said. “So, I called 7-Eleven from my car and said ‘I’m in line. Are all your pumps open?’ And they said, ‘We only have three pumps open, and depending on where you are in line, we only have 100 gallons left.”

They were able to fill up at the third station they visited and even scored a hotel room in Savannah.

Others weren’t so lucky.

Andres had to sleep in her car with her two dogs Tuesday night.

“I was right here in the gas station. And fortunately, it was well lit up, and there was a lot of people coming and going,” she said. “I have two dogs in the car, so the dogs let me know any time someone was coming or going.”

Her main concern is the state of her home. The same goes for Plant and Conway.

“I haven’t thought about it. I don’t want to think about it,” Andres said.

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