Suburban Jacksonville: Julington Creek Plantation

[thelakelander]

As I've said, things have gotten so bad in Jacksonville, in regards to how one can layout a community and roadway planning that we don't even recognize that a commerical corridor through a community can be walkable and bikeable. 

Racetrack Road is actually JCP's version of Riverside's Riverside Avenue, Springfield's Main Street, Durkeeville's Kings Road, etc, not I-95.













These are random shots across the country, with the last being an image of a Racetrack Road intersection near SR 13. All these streets pretty much serve the same function in the neighborhoods they penetrate.  Some just happen to be more multimodal friendly and safe than others primarily through roadway design and land use policies.  WIth that said, JCP is what it is.  However, that's no reason for anyone to defend the horrible road designing regulations Florida has established in regards to pedestrian and bicycle safety.  There's a reason why we have so many pedestrian and bicycle deaths.  The designs of streets like Racetrack Road, Southside Boulevard, etc. have a lot to do with it.

[fsquid]

By hilarious coincidence I had an unfortunate experience in Julington Creek last night that I'd like to relate. I discovered that another thing the neighborhood is "safe" from is easy access to hospitals.

We were attending a party with the friend I mentioned in an above post, who's currently taking care of his parents' house on Julington Creek. Shortly into the night I started choking, which necessitated a run to the emergency room. The route to the nearest hospital, Baptist South, was 15 miles and took over 20 minutes- with my wife hauling ass. The shortest route was 9 or 10 miles but had so many traffic lights it would have taken even longer. Either way, not a fun trip when you can't really breathe.

In contrast, my own house in San Marco is no more than 2 or 3 miles from Baptist Downtown. Even if we had to call an ambulance and wait for it to come and go back, it still would have taken half the time it did.

I've been leaning this way for years, but this experience has totally convinced me: we need to be less preoccupied with oblique concerns about "safety" and sprawling out to build excellent new schools instead of fixing existing ones, and start building communities with all working parts.

They finally built an ER down here, so next time you are out here you aren't too scared.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400638/charlie-patton/2012-10-29/emergency-care-center-opens-northern-st-johns-county

[Tacachale]

By hilarious coincidence I had an unfortunate experience in Julington Creek last night that I'd like to relate. I discovered that another thing the neighborhood is "safe" from is easy access to hospitals.

We were attending a party with the friend I mentioned in an above post, who's currently taking care of his parents' house on Julington Creek. Shortly into the night I started choking, which necessitated a run to the emergency room. The route to the nearest hospital, Baptist South, was 15 miles and took over 20 minutes- with my wife hauling ass. The shortest route was 9 or 10 miles but had so many traffic lights it would have taken even longer. Either way, not a fun trip when you can't really breathe.

In contrast, my own house in San Marco is no more than 2 or 3 miles from Baptist Downtown. Even if we had to call an ambulance and wait for it to come and go back, it still would have taken half the time it did.

I've been leaning this way for years, but this experience has totally convinced me: we need to be less preoccupied with oblique concerns about "safety" and sprawling out to build excellent new schools instead of fixing existing ones, and start building communities with all working parts.

They finally built an ER down here, so next time you are out here you aren't too scared.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400638/charlie-patton/2012-10-29/emergency-care-center-opens-northern-st-johns-county

Good to hear. At this point we've let the sprawl get so rampant down there that the cost of building a totally new facility is necessary.