The Florida Highway Patrol is offering tips to those driving to see Saturday’s launch of the Falcon 9 rocket-Crew Dragon.
The return of manned space flight launch to the International Space Station is scheduled for 3:22 p.m. Saturday at Cape Canaveral.
Drivers should leave early to find a safe location to park.
The FHP warns there was still heavy eastbound traffic just prior to the aborted scheduled lift off time, on Wednesday.
You can use this interactive map: https://www.cfltim.com/launch
Drivers are not allowed to park on the shoulder of a limited access road.
This includes State Road 528, unless it has been designated as parking.
High traffic volume was observed on SR 528, US-1 and A1A, before and after the event.
Drivers may want to consider using SR-46, SR-520, SR-50 and US-192 as a westbound route, away from the coast, after the launch. These roads were underutilized by drivers, returning back to the center part of the state.
Drivers can use SR -520 towards SR 50 for the north end or Nova Road towards the south end.
SR 407 will be shut down to prevent traffic from traveling westbound on the beachline, as this was one area that caused significant slow-downs.
SR-528 was where most of the slowdowns were seen, after the launch was scrubbed.
The westbound change lanes at the toll booth on SR-528, near Dallas will be blocked off to prevent drivers from using those lanes as a passing zone.
Troopers and road rangers observed vehicles traveling through the toll booths, at a higher rate of speed to pass other stopped traffic in the travel lanes.
Driver can use 511 to get up to date information on traffic conditions.
#1 way to make traveling to and from the launch safer is for each driver to plan for heavy traffic, find an alternate route and pack their patience.
Call *347 if you need assistance or have a traffic problem.
