FDOT hits $1B in Jax

[TheCat]

The Florida Department of Transportation hit a milestone this summer — $1 billion in highway construction in the Jacksonville area.

The investment is part of $10 billion over the next three years statewide as the state continues to rapidly grow.


The amount of work in Jacksonville has been unprecedented, and includes construction on several major highways, including I-95, I-295, I-10 and the First Coast Expressway.

"We are committed to cutting travel times because we know that will result in greater mobility for individuals, households and businesses as well as more efficient delivery of goods and services, improved lifestyles and standards of living and safer roadways," said Greg Evans, the FDOT secretary for the area, in a statement.

Although the highway construction is associated with traffic inconvenience, Evans said it was a small price to pay for a better transportation system and more local jobs.

"We see it as a temporary inconvenience for a long-term solution," he said. "Orange, as in orange barrels, means black for Jacksonville's bottom line."

That being said, he added that while congestion in a sign of a thriving urban area, FDOT is working on reducing traffic delays, bottlenecks and any accidents.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2016/07/06/fdot-hits-funding-milestone-in-jacksonville.html

[Lunican]

And yet Main Street is currently closed indefinitely because of their failure to maintain the bridge over Hogans Creek.

[vicupstate]

^^ New roads and expanding existing roads is sexy and gets votes. Maintaining roads, not so much.

[coredumped]

The taxpayers pockets have no bottom...

[fsquid]

It has been good for the equipment rental companies locally.

[spuwho]

^^ New roads and expanding existing roads is sexy and gets votes. Maintaining roads, not so much.

Have you ever seen a politician push for bathrooms at a public park? No one wants a plaque above the urinal that says "This bathroom was brought to you by Gov. Rick Scott".

But I definitely agree with the article, there IS alot of construction in roads and housing right now.

While some of the road work is 25 years behind when it should have been done, some of it corrects poor decisioning.

What happens when they are done with the roads? What then? Where will the next billion go before we have to fix what we built?

[southsider1015]

And yet Main Street is currently closed indefinitely because of their failure to maintain the bridge over Hogans Creek.

FDOT is working on it.  The box culverts are deteriorating,  and to replace them requires closing lanes down.  I would consider this as taking care of it, no? 

[southsider1015]

The taxpayers pockets have no bottom...

http://www.news4jax.com/news/jacksonville-highway-construction-reaches-1b-mark

This article states that every dollar spent  on transportation infrastructure returns $4.40 in user and economic benefits to residents and businesses.   Not bad for public spending wouldn't you say?

[Lunican]

And yet Main Street is currently closed indefinitely because of their failure to maintain the bridge over Hogans Creek.

FDOT is working on it.  The box culverts are deteriorating,  and to replace them requires closing lanes down.  I would consider this as taking care of it, no? 

This is an inaccurate representation of what is going on. Lanes aren't closed because they are actively working to repair it. The road has been closed for over a month because they let it deteriorate to the point of failure. Now they are working on putting it out to bid.