[Sparky04]

I'm looking at commuting to school at either Florida A&M (in Tallahassee) or South Alabama University (in Mobile), but my husband is going to be working at Eglin AFB. I posted a similar question on another thread about my commute, but this one is concerning his commute to Eglin. The halfway point if I go to Florida A&M is somewhere a little west of Oakdale (off of I-10). Mapquest says it is about an hour and 20 minutes from Oakdale to Eglin. Is this doable, or is I-10 traffic pretty crazy? On the other hand, if I go to school in Mobile, the halfway point is in the vicinity of Ferry Pass. Mapquest says it is about an hour from Ferry Pass to Eglin. Is this doable?? Thanks!

[deckardc]

I live in Fort Walton Beach and work on Eglin. I can tell you from personal driving experience that Mapquest is wrong. Believe me, I do not drive like I'm driving Miss Daisy.

First, Eglin is HUGE. It is the largest Air Force base in the world, however, most of the property is natural forest land used for training, testing, and recreation. The part of the base where people work and where the hangars are located is a relatively small area of the base. The inhabited part is technically in Valparaiso, FL. From that area to Crestview, up on I-10, is about 20 miles. A lot of people live in Crestview and work on base so the traffic on 85 between Eglin and I-10 can get sluggish. It can easily take 45 minutes just to get to the I-10 area of Crestview from the business area of the base.

Oakdale isn't really a town. It is just a rural area outside of Marianna with a few houses and trailers. The nearest town where you could feasibly live near that spot would be Marianna. From the business area of the base to Marianna takes at least 2 hours.

Ferry Pass is just a suburb of Pensacola. From the northern area of Pensacola, it will take at least 1 1/2 hours IF there are no accidents on I-10. I work with a few people on base who live in Milton, FL and Pensacola, FL. The guy who lives in Milton says it takes him at least 1 hour to get to work from there. A few weeks ago there was an accident on I-10 and it took him 3 hours to get to work. The guy who lives in Pcola hates the commute and is currently looking for a house in Crestview or FWB.

The traffic is usually not too congested on I-10 although it does get backed up from time to time outside of Pensacola as you are crossing Escambia Bay. The biggest problem in this area is the lack of alternate routes if there is an accident. Eglin owns a great deal of real estate here and they do not want a bunch of public roads crossing the base. The main routes to get to it are I-10 in the north and Hwy 98 in the south. If there is an accident on I-10, then you have to travel all the way down to the coast to Hwy 98 if you are coming from the west and down to SR 20 from the east. Vice versa if there is an accident on 98. Personally, I would not want to drive I-10 to work every day. It is a pretty dangerous stretch of highway and driving it every day would only increase the likelihood that I would die a horrible highway death. There are a lot of fatal accident markers on the side of the road there. Most people on that stretch drive 90 mph while weaving in and out of traffic.

Is there a particular major that is only available at FAMU or USA? If not, why pick those schools if your husband has to work at Eglin? The University of West Florida is located in Pensacola and they have a satellite campus in Fort Walton Beach. Troy University has a satellite in Fort Walton and Florida State has a satellite in Panama City. Any of these schools would be significantly closer to base than Tally or Mobile. Have you checked to see if your major is available at those schools?

[Sparky04]

Thanks for the input...it looks like we'd be looking at two apartments then if the traffic is really that crazy. That's kind of what I expected, but not knowing the area, I figured it was worth looking into. I'm looking for Physical Therapy programs...Mobile and Tallahassee are the closest to Eglin, unfortunately.