Outer Beltway Plan Up In Smoke!

[thelakelander]

Here is another question.  Is development around a station placed in Orange Park, Green Cove Springs or Fleming Island sprawl or infill?

[north miami]

Here is another question.  Is development around a station placed in Orange Park, Green Cove Springs or Fleming Island sprawl or infill?

At one time not too long ago the answer was decidedly "Sprawl",now "Infill".Note the initial sprawl elemnts west of Orange Park-all under the guise of "Growth Management".Future roadways over Little Black Creek for instance will prove mind boggling for some,yet these elements long promoted and "planned".
The creeping long legs of the growth creature.

[thelakelander]

The Jax Biz Journal mentions that FDOT plans to spend $54 million in the next 5 years acquiring ROW for the 47-mile Outer Beltway.  I assume this was already the plan before they couldn't find a private entity willing to lose their shirts on it.  In the event that a private entity were found, would they have to reimburse FDOT for the ROW purchase or was this supposed to be a financial incentive given off the back of taxpayers?

[tufsu1]

originally, the private entity was to reimburse FDOT...now I'm not so sure

[jandar]

The other insane thing about this beltway is the way they cross the river far south of ANY population center. Hell it would be good for me and my 200 neighbors but that's about it. Which Clay County representatives signed off on boxing in the old Naval Airport, on rail, on US-highway, next to a river port?  sheer genius.[/b]

OCKLAWAHA

Build the river crossing between around Fleming Island, or build another river crossing from Timaquana to San Jose/University.

Imagine that, a bridge crossing that would make sense.

[thelakelander]

Which is why it will never happen.

[fsujax]

Collins Rd/I-295 Interchange to begin. Price tag $64 million

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400669/larry-hannan/2011-02-08/construction-collins-road-interchange-i-295-begins

[stjr]

$54 million for Outer Beltway ROW.  $64 million for Collins Road.  Minus $3 Billion for the education of our children, the real future of Florida and engine of good jobs.  So much for being the "Jobs Governor".

[middleman]

My sentiment on the whole dumb project is the angle they are projecting the masses to travel. Granted there is probably a demand for a direct route to Cecil from Clay, but the demand into Jacksonville has to be exponentially higher.

Ocklawaha, thank you for presenting a reasonable alternative to the problems on Blanding, and the "hated" beltway. I wish I had your skills at presentation, I would love to present a graphic of what I think the proper route for a Blanding "pressure value" route would be.

Why would it be ideal to destroy the quality of the neighborhoods along Old Middleburg Road because Blanding is too congested in Clay County?  At what point do we stop paying for more expensive bigger belts, admit we have a weight problem and commit to getting in shape instead?

With that said, instead of focusing on beltways and highways, the better road based solution is to create a more connective road network (where feasible) to reduce the amount of short trips on existing arterials.  Grids work because they disperse traffic by giving drivers a choice of paths to take to get to the same destination.  We should look at going back to that concept.

Didn't mean to imply the Old Middleburg Road was the ideal path of an alternate Clay commuter road. I meant that the current plan could be improved to put the road where most Clay County residents could actually use it. As a suggestion, instead of following the Branan Field Rd alignment, the plan could be realigned so the current Branan/Chaffey highway in Duval veers southeastward after entering Clay County, ultimately intersecting Blanding in the College Dr area. Later, if its ever needed, the highway could loop around to a river crossing in the Fleming Is. area. Ah, but as you already said... it won't happen because it makes sense.

[thelakelander]

I hope people are keeping track with these "isolated" projects that will ultimately add up in taxpayers footing the bill for the Outer Beltway between I-10 and Blanding.  Where is Rick Scott when you need him to permanently kill a project in the best interest of the taxpayer?

Florida DOT to hold workshop on Branan Field frontage road project

The Florida Department of Transportation will host a public workshop Thursday to discuss building frontage roads along a 3-mile stretch of Florida 23 (Branan Field-Chaffee Road) in Clay County.

The $22 million project is to begin in early 2012.

The workshop will be an informal "open house" held between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. in the OakLeaf Plantation Banquet Hall, 845 OakLeaf Plantation Parkway. Public comments will be taken at 6:30 p.m.; no formal presentation will b made, according to a news release.

Maps and exhibits will show how the proposed improvements are designed to help with traffic flow between Old Jennings Road (just north of Blanding Boulevard) and OakLeaf Plantation Parkway. The frontage roads will ultimately become part of the First Coast Outer Beltway, a 46-mile long interstate-type roadway linking Interstates 10 and 95 around the west side of Jacksonville.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/community/clay/2011-04-05/story/florida-dot-hold-workshop-branan-field-frontage-road-project#ixzz1Ig2vMt8g

[tufsu1]

I fully expect the Branan Field Expressway to be complete from I-10 to SR 21 by 2020...and I would not be surprised if it isn't even a toll road

[urbaknight]

I'm sure Hogan will try to resurrect the project.

[thelakelander]

I fully expect the Branan Field Expressway to be complete from I-10 to SR 21 by 2020...and I would not be surprised if it isn't even a toll road

Do you expect it to be 100% taxpayer funded or a private entity to come in, take over and reimburse the public for the money spent to date?

[Timkin]

I hope people are keeping track with these "isolated" projects that will ultimately add up in taxpayers footing the bill for the Outer Beltway between I-10 and Blanding.  Where is Rick Scott when you need him to permanently kill a project in the best interest of the taxpayer?

Killing benefits for the elderly and the truly needy.. The bastard 

[north miami]

I fully expect the Branan Field Expressway to be complete from I-10 to SR 21 by 2020...and I would not be surprised if it isn't even a toll road

Do you expect it to be 100% taxpayer funded or a private entity to come in, take over and reimburse the public for the money spent to date?

Regardless of who and how it is funded- there will always be the harmful impacts of which I am confident most MJ posters are unaware- and the fact that the boosters got away with erroneous promotions of viable "alternate" and "alleviation" to Blanding.That aspect alone is worth "proving"-bring it on!!