Great episode, except for the GOOF, right in the beginning!! Having lived in Florida for a long time, and familiar with the nicknames, history, etc. of Florida, when JJ is giving out the preflight briefing on the case at the BAU office... she says that 'the case was in Bridgewater, FL and that the body was found just at a nearby park, right along Alligator Alley.. a nickname for I-75.' The information about the nickname is, however, innacurate. The nickname 'Alligator Alley' is not a nickname for the entire length of I-75 in Florida, it only refers to the section of I-75 that runs east and west along the Everglades. It is the section that only runs from the Ft Lauderdale area to the Naples area. Bridgewater,however, is up closer to the Orlando area. It would be a good 3+ hour drive to dump the body along the 'Alley,' so it would not be refered to as 'right nearby.' Before improvements to the Alligator Alley section of roadway, the added lighting and the added fencing along the sides to protect the wildlife from entering the highway, the road was a tiny, two-lane road, one lane in either direction. Passing another car, in the pitch black, was indeed a death trap. If you had to pass another vehicle, you would have to drive into oncoming traffic with speeds in both directions readily exceeding 80+mph! Passing another car, was essentially like playing an extremely deadly game of 'Chicken!' Being face to face, having to drive into the oncoming traffic lane, knowing that there would be vehicles traveling at great speeds that were headed right AT YOU!! When there were crashes, and both vehicles were going 80-100 mph.. it was like driving 160-200 mph, right into a brick wall! Back in the day, before the improvements, it was definitely a white knuckle drive! Also, to add to the danger on this already scary, small two lane road, and nothing but wetlands as far as you could see, with a waterway canal running right alongside the length of the road, the gators would come out of the water and were often out sunning themselves on the embankment. Often, they would even lay themselves all the way onto the warm pavement, causing even more traffic accidents! (With so many gators - that even the most prosperous zoos would be envious - all lying so close and onto the roadway, over this particular section that crosses the Everglades/marshlands, is what originally, caused the creation of the "Alligator Alley" nickname!) Trying to stop quickly enough, once the gator appeared out of the pitch black and into the headlight beam, often proved fruitless, causing many traffic accidents and huge pileups! Nowadays, however, with the improvements of adding lanes in both directions (no more passing into oncoming traffic!) and even a separation median, new fencing, and new lighting that runs on both the north and south sides, it is protected from the gators reaching the pavement and the games of 'Chicken' from being played! The gators are still seen, very, very prevalently, sunning themselves along the canal waters embankment! It's a great drive for kids to see all the wildlife! Actually, it is a pretty great sight for tourists, and even us local residents, as well!!
