Times-Union Editorial - Impressive Projects Downtwon

[marcuscnelson]

Make the bridge go 100% to Bay Street? Interesting idea.

[heights unknown]

The Landing is impressive if you're a goat.

You didn't know that the goat is really Lenny Curry (Mayor) in costume? He always wanted to know what it was like to graze an empty lawn. Just playing, Mr. Mayor, you're doing an excellent job meeting and exceeding the goal(s) of demolition and adding more empty razed lots to downtown Jacksonville; by the way, Jax is Florida's largest City...isn't it?

[Steve]

Make the bridge go 100% to Bay Street? Interesting idea.

Or Ocean, but yes that's the idea. Get rid of the funky ramp to Water/Independent.

[Steve]

^Also, if I remember right Bay Street was one-way Westbound until they did the reversible lanes on Bay so making a right from the Bridge to Bay Street wouldn't be possible previously. There was also a second road from Independent to Ocean (used to be around both sides of the bridge ramp).

Now that it is the ramp is useless.

Further, with unlimited money I'd redo the ramps to come down on Independent - install one traffic light that controlled both directions of the Bridge ramps and Independent. The northbound would still feed to Ocean Street. This then:

- Makes Independent more walkable since you could cross the road without playing frogger
- Allows for Independent to get on the bridge without circling the block
- Better pedestrian flow for the bridge overall.

The exit from the Chamber parking lot would be weird as would the Well Fargo Center Loading Dock, but should be able to be reconfigured somehow.

[marcuscnelson]

Just playing, Mr. Mayor, you're doing an excellent job meeting and exceeding the goal(s) of demolition and adding more empty razed lots to downtown Jacksonville; by the way, Jax is Florida's largest City...isn't it?

Jax is the largest city in Florida by population because of consolidation, same reason it's the largest city in the continental US by land area.

[Charles Hunter]

^Also, if I remember right Bay Street was one-way Westbound until they did the reversible lanes on Bay so making a right from the Bridge to Bay Street wouldn't be possible previously.

The 2-way on Bay Street starts at Ocean Street, so traffic coming across the Main Street Bridge can head toward the Sports Complex.

There was also a second road from Independent to Ocean (used to be around both sides of the bridge ramp).

Now that it is the ramp is useless.

The remaining ramp allows traffic from Independent Drive to turn left to get to the Main Street Bridge, or continue west on Bay. Once the on-ramp from Independent to the bridge is gone, this will be how traffic along Water Street will get to the bridge.

Further, with unlimited money I'd redo the ramps to come down on Independent - install one traffic light that controlled both directions of the Bridge ramps and Independent. The northbound would still feed to Ocean Street. This then:

- Makes Independent more walkable since you could cross the road without playing frogger
- Allows for Independent to get on the bridge without circling the block
- Better pedestrian flow for the bridge overall.

The exit from the Chamber parking lot would be weird as would the Well Fargo Center Loading Dock, but should be able to be reconfigured somehow.

Just eyeballing, it seems coming down to Independent Drive will cause the ramp to be too steep. The existing ramps to/from Independent are curved, so much of the slope is going east-west instead of north-south.

[simms3]

Base for at least one tower crane has been installed at FIS.  It will be blue.  I thought I might have seen a second base from the Fuller Warren today but cannot be positive.  Will be exciting to watch.

[acme54321]

Base for at least one tower crane has been installed at FIS.  It will be blue.  I thought I might have seen a second base from the Fuller Warren today but cannot be positive.  Will be exciting to watch.

I came to post the same.

We are about to have not one, but TWO tower cranes downtown . Crazy times 

[marcuscnelson]

Where's heightsunknown when you need him?

This doesn't fix that after one of the biggest periods of economic growth in American history, all we have to show for it is one new office tower. For a major city, that's pretty bad.

[Ken_FSU]

^I'd counter this by saying that Jacksonville has shown some pretty amazing growth during this economic cycle.

It just hasn't been downtown.

Brooklyn/LaVilla, the beaches, and the Town Center area have exploded since the recession, as have the bedroom communities outside of Duval.

Retailers and restaurants have flocked to Jax like no time in the last 50 years this economic cycle, and Jax has also taken a huge leap forward culturally as well.

You look at the progress almost anywhere else in the city as compared to the CBD, and it's pretty obvious that the city government is doing more harm than good with its meddling and planning.

[thelakelander]

^ Excluding downtown though, that amazing growth during this economic cycle is Florida as a whole. Unfortunately, downtown would be there too, if not for self sabotage. Even as amazing as we think development in Brooklyn has been, there's only been 4 multifamily projects built in the last decade (two of these are still under construction). Those things come a dime a dozen in Central and South Florida, Tallahassee and Gainesville. I was literally blown away by how much has been built in and around downtown St. Pete over the last 20 years. The amount of infill that has popped up on Central Avenue between Downtown and 34th Street is insane.

[marcuscnelson]

John Bachman tweeted this today:

If you haven't cruised through LaVilla recently...even with rain, it's a cool spot. And it's getting cooler by the month. Stay tuned...
@ActionNewsJax

[simms3]

The latest from FIS:

[thelakelander]

Is that 2 tower cranes? That's a +10 year DT Jax record.

[Steve]

Is that 2 tower cranes? That's a +10 year DT Jax record.

Certainly for the Northbank it is. I think the last time there was more than 1 on the northbank was when Berkman I/Adam's Mark/Federal Courthouse.  I think all 3 were under construction at one point at the same time. I don't think there were tower cranes for any of the Better Jax projects.

Though a single digit number of floors, I'd also assume JEA would necessitate a Tower Crane because of the footprint.