11-foot alligator blocks traffic on Florida highway

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

Just when you thought rush hour couldn’t get any worse.

A behemoth 11-foot alligator wandered onto State Road 417 in Florida on Wednesday morning, holding up traffic for almost an hour, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

The “moving speed bump” likely came from Lake Jesup, which is “quite the gator-populated lake,” Bob Kealing, public information administrator for the sheriff’s office, told CNN.

Lake Jesup, located in the center of Seminole County, is one of the largest lakes in central Florida.

“Thank you media and LEO partners for getting the word out on this 11-footer who strolled out of Lake Jesup this morning and in to Northbound 417 traffic causing quite a jam!” the sherrif’s office said on Twitter.

Kealing told CNN that the gator was on the road from around 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time — and that it isn’t unusual to find wayward gators blocking traffic in Seminole County. “This is the time of year when alligators are particularly on the move, it’s the mating season,” he said.

Staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived to relocate the alligator at around 9 a.m.

Kealing advised motorists to always call 911 if they encounter an alligator in the road. “Those are significant beasts, they can cause significant damage if you don’t see one and you run over them,” he said.

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