Argyle Traffic - Over 500 crashes per year

[mvp]

TPO Launches CareMore Driving Argyle Safety Campaign to Reduce Crashes
   
Today the North Florida TPO launched a two-week media campaign to promote safe driving habits in the Argyle area.  Through TV and radio public service announcements and a website, www.caremoreargyle.com, the TPO hopes to reduce crashes by 10% over the summer.  The spots encourage drivers to care more, not less while driving in Argyle by not tailgating, letting people in instead of cutting them off and putting the phone down.
     
The area near Blanding Boulevard near I-295 is a hotspot for accidents, averaging over 500 crashes per year in just seven square miles.  More than 300 of these crashes result in injuries or fatalities.  The economic impact of these crashes is over $90 million per year.

The campaign was initiated as a result of the TPO’s Argyle Traffic Study which showed an unusually high crash rate.  Five years’ of crash reports were analyzed and law enforcement officers who patrol the area provided input as did drivers who had caused crashes in the area.  This research showed that careless and aggressive driving by those in their 20’s-50’s as the major cause of crashes in the Argyle area, especially on Fridays from 4-7 p.m.       

[duvaldude08]

Blandings traffic makes my nerves bad. I stay off Blanding now on the duval county side and I HATE when I to drive to OP for something. As soon as you pass 295 the traffic just comes to almost a stop, regardless of what time of day it is, usually.

[JayBird]

Agreed this is horrible area of town.  But the solution ... I think change the light pattern somehow.  So many times I have sat through entire green lights because the next one is red and there is just no where for the cars to go.  Now with construction changing traffic patterns regularly it becomes even more confusing.  Throw into that the people too busy texting, eating, putting on makeup etc and it creates a prime accident environment.  However, I highly doubt this awareness campaign will make a difference.  People will just see or hear warnings and then go on about their lives, forgetting until they are involved in an accident.

[blizz01]

Haha - this has been going on for over twenty years...

[Ocklawaha]

Agreed this is horrible area of town.  But the solution ... I think change the light pattern somehow.  So many times I have sat through entire green lights because the next one is red and there is just no where for the cars to go.  Now with construction changing traffic patterns regularly it becomes even more confusing.  Throw into that the people too busy texting, eating, putting on makeup etc and it creates a prime accident environment.  However, I highly doubt this awareness campaign will make a difference.  People will just see or hear warnings and then go on about their lives, forgetting until they are involved in an accident.

I agree that the traffic in this area is indeed horrible, but the campaign could make a big difference if it is followed by things such as speed humps, additional lane reflectors, LED illuminated cross walks, LED stop signs etc.

The commonly held belief that this is somehow 'all Clay County and Orange Park's fault,' is bogus. The pattern of the area wetlands and waterways plus the western edge of the north-south portion of I-295, force all traffic to crowd toward the triangle formed by Blanding and Roosevelt.

LONG TERM, solutions will be costly.

As Clay continues to stretch our metro out towards Camp Blanding/Starke and Keystone Heights, future roadway solutions may have to include express lanes, elevated through lanes, another new urban FREEway (but not one carrying traffic off to Lake City and claiming it will 'help' get Clay drivers to Jacksonville).

Non automobilecentric concepts might include Commuter Rail on the CSX, or Light Rail coming down through Riverside/Ortega, crossing the CSX at Yukon/NAS JAX and heading off crossing and running along the west shore of the Ortega River to Orange Park Mall. BRT on Blanding, Cassat, Normandy, and stretches of Roosevelt and Post should be considered as possibilities as well. It should be pointed out however that NO TRANSIT solution will cure the traffic situation, but it will give commuters a choice, something they certainly don't have today.