Got a question about 1979 Frederic

[beachbum_al]

This is what started my searching

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/114880826344810.xml&coll=3

My question is Was the Bay Way there during Hurricane Frederic in 1979. Even though I have lived here most of my life I don't remember when the Bay Way was built. I have searched and found some amazing pics and stories dealing with Frederic but nothing about the Bay Way.

[LSU2001]

I can remember that the big bridge going to dauphin island was knocked out for awhile The bayway is I-10 and yes I think it was built in the early 70s.
Tim

[beachbum_al]

Dauphin Island was knocked out for a while. I remember that and have seen the whole piers where the bridge once lay. I can't remember if the Bay Way was built in 1979. My mom doesn't think it was but I don't remember any other way going to Mobile. Of course there was the Scenic Route which I know had major damage.

[hcane27]

The Interstate 10 "Bay Way" was completed in 1978.

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

I lived in Lucedale, MS in 1979, and you still had to use the causeway to get across. I did a little searching:

http://www.gifttree.com/Mobile/Mobile-history.html

1981
I-10 completed across Mobile Bay

That Frederic was worse than Katrina in Lucedale. But not on the coast.

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

Also, I scanned in an old Mobile Press report here:

http://www2.netdoor.com/~lynn02/weather ... sfred1.jpg
http://www2.netdoor.com/~lynn02/weather ... sfred2.jpg

It says:

"Bill Tilson, retired meteorologist in charge of the NWS station at Bates Field, said that if these winds had been directed toward the mouth of Mobile Bay, the resulting storm surge would have destroyed the I-65 bridge across the bay and done considerably more damage in the Port of Mobile."

I don't remember I-65 being built then, though. And it really doesn't cross the bay. More north over those rivers.

[beachbum_al]

Also, I scanned in an old Mobile Press report here:

http://www2.netdoor.com/~lynn02/weather ... sfred1.jpg
http://www2.netdoor.com/~lynn02/weather ... sfred2.jpg

It says:

"Bill Tilson, retired meteorologist in charge of the NWS station at Bates Field, said that if these winds had been directed toward the mouth of Mobile Bay, the resulting storm surge would have destroyed the I-65 bridge across the bay and done considerably more damage in the Port of Mobile."

I don't remember I-65 being built then, though. And it really doesn't cross the bay. More north over those rivers.

1-10 that goes from Daphne to Mobile...That is the one that I don't remember. According to one of the reports it was built right after frederic.

The other thing my mom was telling me is that Frederic was a dry storm. He didn't have a lot of rain with him.

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

I think construction on the bridge was just starting when Frederic hit.

It was a very "dry" storm. I remember it well.

http://www2.netdoor.com/~lynn02/weather ... ederic.htm

[SCUBAdude]

The bridge was there in 79. I grew up there and I remember that the new Bay Way had sections lifted off of their piers during the storm. It had not been open long.

[murphnmobile]

Bridge was completed in 1978. You will find your info here on page 7... http://www.disl.org/Part1.pdf We used it going back and forthe to family in Baldwin County.

[beachbum_al]

Bridge was completed in 1978. You will find your info here on page 7... http://www.disl.org/Part1.pdf We used it going back and forthe to family in Baldwin County.

Thank you! I was only 8 when the bridge was completed and it was near the time of Frederic which hit Sept 1979. That would explain why I don't remember much and my mom~well I guess old age is getting to her.

All of you thank you for your help! I do appreciate it! I hope nothing ever happens to the bayway I-10 because so many people live over on the Eastern Shore~Spanish Fort, Daphne, Montrose, Fairhope, and Point Clear and they work over in the Mobile area. It would be bad if something happen to the bridge.

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

Ah, I knew that Mobile Press article sounded wrong. Whoever wrote it meant I-10, not I-65. Glad to know that. I do remember being able to use the I-10 tunnels instead of the Bankhead, and then having to exit onto the causeway. Must have been 76-77.

[baygirl_1]

I don't remember the Bayway sustaining any damage during Frederic. Granted, I was young, but I do recall my parents taking us on the Bayway over to Daphne for dinner one night about a week or so after the storm. We didn't have power but the Eastern Shore did. It was a nice diversion. Anyway... the Dauphin Island bridge did go sayonara. We had a house down there and spent like 2 years taking the ferry down on weekends for the rebuilding. (The new high rise span to Dauphin Island meant the end of camping on Little Dauphin Island, which was probably a good thing.) But, in town, the biggest problem was the wind that almost wiped out our beautiful oak trees, not to mention many of our homes and buildings. We had so many trees down on our street, it took the fathers almost two days to get it cleared!