Travel in and out of Florida is getting tougher on both sides of the Florida/Georgia border.
Camden County - which includes I-95 and communities like St. Marys, Woodbine, and Waverly – has launched traffic checkpoints, a mandatory county-wide curfew and other COVID-19 preventative measures.
Camden County law enforcement is now restricting traffic on local roadways near Exits 1, 3, 6, 7, and 14 of I-95 to local traffic only during what is currently a 72-hour moratorium.
The move is meant to prevent I-95 motorists from making any Camden County stops for gas, lodging, meals or visits.
An exception is being made for emergency medical care.
The county is also directing guests already staying in local hotels and other lodging establishments to self-quarantine during their stay.
Related: Local, State, And National Coronavirus Coverage
A mandatory curfew also goes into effect Monday, March 30, from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. daily. At the time of this story's publication, the curfew is scheduled to end April 6 at noon.
Over the weekend, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the creation of an I-95 checkpoint on Florida's northern border to screen motorists traveling from the New York City area, in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Saturday's announcement came a day after DeSantis said he was setting up a similar checkpoint in Northwest Florida, targeting travelers from Louisiana.
The I-95 checkpoint is an expansion of screenings already underway at certain Florida airports aimed at people coming from the tri-state area around New York City, one of the nation’s “hot spots” for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
Traffic along I-95 was slowed for miles at the Florida-Georgia border Sunday afternoon after a checkpoint was put in place to screen for travelers coming from COVID-19 hot spots on the East Coast.
Traffic was slowed from the Highway 17 exit in Florida all the way to St. Marys Road in Georgia, just past the St. Marys River, around 3 p.m.
The traffic on I-95 had cleared up by Sunday evening after the checkpoint was shut down for several hours.
The checkpoint reopened around 5:15 p.m. after the Florida Department of Transportation set up a new traffic cone pattern to improve the flow of vehicles coming through. After the changes, traffic appeared to flow much smoother, according to WJCT News partner News4Jax.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
