howdy and is 331 open northbound?

[aquaticbiology]

MM all! Sorry to be *****ing on the first post on this board, but we come down about once a month for 1-day sampling missions and the last time, on April 28th, the 331 bridge was closed northbound with a big sign saying "Bridge Closed - Local Traffic Only". There was nothing at all about it on the radio or anything and was open southbound just fine that morning. We had to go all the way down to Destin and pay the toll to go over the freaking mid-bay bridge to get back to 331 and start towards home. The toll lines were freaking parking lots and the detour added about 2+ hours to our normal 6-hour trip back home making it more like 8+ hours on the road at night. Is there any place that we can look to see if this crap is going to happen BEFORE we come down next week? 231 is a lot further but less hassle if closings are going to force horrible detours. Thanks.

 

[Kurt]

That must have been the day 2 trucks collided and one went over the bridge onto the old bridge below, killing the driver. It was reported closed for a few hours on this board - there's a thread about it.

Consider yourself inconvenienced and lucky - that could have been you. Drive safe.

What are you sampling?

 

[Smiling JOe]

Kurt is correct. The wreck/death was the cause of the shut down. Drive Carefully.

 

[aquaticbiology]

Thanks! Hopefully there won't be a repeat performance by the truckers on this trip. As for your last question, we get to have the wonderful fun of sampling water, water and more water, both salt and brackish, deep and shallow, from Phillips Inlet to East Bay, along with plankton trawls and worm-counting dives. And then there's the mud sections (long thin plastic tubes hammered down thru the yecch) and they're just the most fun of all. You've probably seen some of us either stopped by the side of the road in our white van or out in our antique white/red jet boat sometime or other. Not so bad in the summer, but in the depths of winter it can be really freezing. We haul it all back to the university for use in undergrad classes and labs. Really, really fun stuff.

marinebiology451
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/science_math/biology/
auburn university
biol 4980