State Rd 9B

[JaxBorn1962]

We need a barrier to separate the Northbound, and Southbound lanes to prevent deaths like the one that happened last week. ( tow truck crossed over into an SUV)

I'm not sure this is True? That Tow truck lost control going to fast along with a lot of other cars believing this area is nothing but a drag strip! If everyone slowed down to the posted speed limit less accidents would happen. And the death was the passenger of the Tow Truck.

[reednavy]

We need a barrier to separate the Northbound, and Southbound lanes to prevent deaths like the one that happened last week. ( tow truck crossed over into an SUV)

The tow truck didn't hit another vehicle. It was raining at the time of the accident and was going too fast for that curvey section of 9A. He likely hydoplaned, causing him to veer into the median and flip. The fatality occured in the tow truck, not another vehicle.

Dude, keep the Bible giberish out of the forum, or at least this thread. There are other threads for that talk.

If you're in the development industry, well, you have a lot of people stacked against you for the crap that 9B will initiate, well, exacerbate even more so. 9B will promote irresponsible development, plain and simple.

[stjr]

9A except during rush hours, and crash sites is very speedy.  Airport all the way to I95 south of Jax. is so much faster than I295, and I95.  In Atlanta I75 is faster that the overcrowed loops.  9A is much faster than I95.  Also it helps the people going to the Beaches.  From Merrill Rd. to Phillips Hwy is the big Southside Blvd helper.  Southside Blvd. would be a total nightmare without 9A.

British Shoe, I-95 isn't bad outside rush hour either, and it may be better in most spots than 9A.

More importantly, I thought this thread was about 9B, not 9A.  If you love 9A so much, you should be asking JTA to spend the 9B money on widening 9A to at least the 6 lanes it should have been from the beginning. Wait until 9A gets relabeled next year as I-295 and watch how much of the interstate through traffic starts using it when those out-of-towners finally understand it is part of the I-95 interstate infrastructure.  Then, you will really wish this money went for six lanes of 9A.

In the meantime, 9B isn't going to make your life $200 million plus better.  But, it will create urban sprawl that you will be asked to subsidize with your taxes.  That same sprawl will also create more unnecessary traffic so I am sure you will be back asking for 9C, 9D, 9E.....

[British Shoe Company]

Thank you for defending religion Stephendare.  I do think 9B is a done deal.  If anyone has a way to make it better, share it with the commissioners.  I like roads like JTB, and 9A because no traffic lights, or stop signs, which saves travel time.

[British Shoe Company]

Will you copy link, and post it?

Thanks,

Bud

[reednavy]

Will you copy link, and post it?

Thanks,

Bud

Use the search tool.

[tufsu1]

again, I think it is valuable to have different viewpoints/opinions on this site.

[reednavy]

again, I think it is valuable to have different viewpoints/opinions on this site.

We never said it wasn't valuable, it's jsut that if you have half a brain, you'll realize how useless 9B is.

[tufsu1]

I agree that 9B is not  good thing....

But telling someone like BritishShoe that their views are not welcome on this site and that their posts are "strange" is not appropriate!

[St. Auggie]

you'll realize how useless 9B is.


Now correct me if I am wrong but was the new 295 interchange built with the intention to have 9b? If so would that not make it necessary? I would suggest anyone who has seen the interchange at Old St. Aug rd and 95 in the mornining would know that folks in St. Johns county need a way to get out of the county rather than Bartram Park Blvd.  And before everyone goes and tells me about public transportation, have you met the people of N St. Johns coutny?  I love them, but they are not getting on bus, train, or a hovercraft. They are getting in an SUV and going to work.  9b becomes pretty necessary when you consider that.

[thelakelander]

Then the people in St. Johns need to pay for it.  Duval should not be facilitating growth in St. Johns County at its resident's expense.

[reednavy]

Hmm, I thought everyone used San Jose.

The Old St Augustine Road interchange exit from 95 southbound is terribly short and requires very sudden slow down, unless you want to fly into the onramp for 95 southbound.

Also, the main reason why is because the limited number of interchanges on 95, especially 210, are critically over built and needs better access to US1. A good bit of the traffic problem would be releaved, for a few years at least until developers come along, by building an interchange with Racetrack Road. So, you either go through Bartram Park and sit, or take San Jose and sit.

9B is not necessary, mass transit is. JTA buses do not go into St. Johns County at all, and that's likely part of the problem. St. johns County has ZERO mass transit options, and building another highway is not the answer. You have a perfectly fine and easily accessible railroad track adjacent to main road in the county that can be utilized.

The way the communities in the northern part of St. Johns and southern Duval are built or spread far apart to not even utilize connectivity. BPB is NOT an example of connectivity in action. I've said it before and will say it again, connectivity via a street grid can do wonders.

Take Oklahoma City for example. They have a perfect grid pattern, and to travel from Norman to downtown OKC using city streets alone takes only about 45 minutes for a 20 mile trip, roughly the same distance from most locations in northern St. Johns to downtown Jacksonville. Part of the problem though is our greatest asset, the river.

[stjr]

you'll realize how useless 9B is.


Now correct me if I am wrong but was the new 295 interchange built with the intention to have 9b? If so would that not make it necessary? I would suggest anyone who has seen the interchange at Old St. Aug rd and 95 in the morning would know that folks in St. Johns county need a way to get out of the county rather than Bartram Park Blvd.  And before everyone goes and tells me about public transportation, have you met the people of N St. Johns county?  I love them, but they are not getting on bus, train, or a hovercraft. They are getting in an SUV and going to work.  9b becomes pretty necessary when you consider that.

Welcome, St. Auggie.  I hope my response below doesn't run you off, it's just how I see it versus how you see it. No offense.

People moved to St. Johns County based on the roads presently there.  They have I-95, US 1, and SR-13.  This is the problem with urban sprawl.  It feeds on itself, never catching up with its demands.  We can build 9B but you will be back in a few years complaining that, after the growth it creates is manifested, that you still need more ways out of St. Johns.  Of course, the Outer Beltway is being justified already in anticipation of this growth.

Just look to Jax or any other well established city, and you will see this is a never ending cycle.  Where does it end is the question.  Until a different approach is taken, we will be building these roads, FOLLOWING growth, forever, and you will never find satisfaction.  Mass transit is the key to getting off this treadmill.

As to the I-295 interchange depending on 9B, I have never heard that before this thread.  The I-295/I-95 interchange was possibly 30 or more years in the making.  I don't think you will find the concept of 9B going back anywhere near that far.  Regardless, I don't see where that effect comes in so someone will have to explain it.  The I-295/I-95 is a full blown interchange, possibly the largest in Northeast Florida.

Old St. Augustine Road is entirely in Duval County and I don't see that as ever having been a major viable conduit for many St. Johns County residents.  For what its worth, the real problem with St. Augustine Road, like JTB/I95 and so many other area interchanges, is that FDOT builds cheap diamond or half-diamond interchanges requiring traffic lights instead of full interchanges without lights.  When traffic overwhelms them, FDOT claims it's too expensive to buy back all the surrounding developed land they could have had for peanuts when the interchange was first built in the middle of nowhere.  Once again, a broken system.

To be candid, St. Johns County residents should live closer to their jobs in Duval if they don't like the traffic in St. Johns.  If more people exercised this privilege, we wouldn't have urban sprawl and would have viable mass transit.  Whether 9B and/or the Outer Beltway gets built, when the tens of thousands of new homes get built on all those Nocatee-like DRI's on former St. Johns County timberlands, you will be really howling about traffic (and probably overcrowded schools, etc.).  Then what?

By the way, why don't you hold the developers accountable for selling you a home they know you will ultimately be sitting in traffic for when they finish building out their tracts?  Buyer beware.

[Tripoli1711]

I do not inherently hate projects such as 9B.  I think in this instance it is not the right time or the right priority.  I also believe that our development in the sprawl areas is too often haphazardly done and that is the reason for the justifiable skepticism regarding 9B.  I think we should work to improve density in the urban core before we consider creating a catalyst to sprawl.  However, certain people will never have any inclination to live in dense urban developments.  The reason sprawl is so pervasive is because low density single family homes are wildly popular.  Once mass transit and other initiatives frequently discussed here have been implemented, it is likely a road such as this will be needed as natural population growth will demand it. 

Once built, it should be built "all-in".  I agree with the criticism regarding 9A.  I think 9A is a fantastic road and I am glad it was built, but it should have been built 6 lanes from the word "go".  That is one thing I always noticed in South Florida years ago when I visited often.  In many of their areas of "sprawl", their main arteries were 6 lanes even though it appeared unnecessary.  I assume this was because they recognized that in a few years the population of the area would justify 6 lanes, and it would be a much larger undertaking of time and money to expand.

I guess what I am trying to say is I am very hesitant to dismiss highway projects out of hand.  They will always be necessary because there will always be thousands of people who want to live in suburbia or exurbia.  I am a product of suburbia.  I would rather build mass transit and spur development in the core, even though I do not live there.  I recognize the benefit to the community at large of doing this.  But I am in the minority.  We cannot hope to eliminate sprawl any more than we can hope to eliminate population growth or people like my dad who would never live where his lot was less than 1/3 acre.  What we must do is demand responsibility from our officials regarding where the sprawl is directed and how it will impact our overall transportation landscape.

[tufsu1]

Now correct me if I am wrong but was the new 295 interchange built with the intention to have 9b? If so would that not make it necessary?

from what I understand rom FDOT, you are correct.