Traffic Woes: Perception vs Reality

[David]

Although we spend a lot of time debating and hoping for a better form of mass transportation to come to the Jacksonville area, Im a realist and I'm more interested in our current road networks capacity.  I've spent most of the last decade living and working close to downtown  sheltered from the rest of the city's traffic so I've been surprised by some of my commute times upon moving further out into the burbs of Southside and Mandarin and commuting to my job in South point or when heading back towards Downtown/Riverside during evening rush hours.

The Fuller Warren seems like a major choke point waiting to happen. 295 in Mandarin seems to be backed up regularly, mostly due to accidents. JTB is at a stand still often as are numerous other roadways in town. 9A seems to be getting congested as well along some parts. This isn't a comparison thread pitting Jacksonville against our peer cities to determine who has it worse, I'm just asking if our  traffic appears to be getting worse in general. 95 felt wide open a decade ago when they widened it to 3 lanes, but now its feeling pretty cramped.

I don't have access to any traffic data otherwise I would've posted it in a neat little chart comparing past and present traffic volumes on the major roadways around town. 

[David]

I just needed to google a little better:

http://www.firstcoastmpo.com/traffic_counts/

Maybe i'm just getting more impatient. Or maybe the roadways are getting maxed out during peak times more than they were a decade ago.

[tufsu1]

reality is Jacksonville doesn't have much of a traffic problem....there are a few isolated hot spots, but nothing compared to large metros...or even Tampa and Orlando

[mtraininjax]

Jacksonville has NO traffic compared to sitting on I-4 on a SUNDAY, a SUNDAY and going 45 miles per hour through Orlando, or crawling around the top end perimeter in Atlanta on I-285. I could go on and on about traffic in South Florida or into Tampa, but the point is useless.

We have no major traffic in Jacksonville, we have congestion, but we are not a major traffic town. So if the Fuller Warren gets clogged, I take the Acosta or Main Street bridge, try telling people in downtown Orlando to take 17/92 instead of I-4, I give I-4 the finger and take the toll road bypass. Same with I-285, no good way around the north end of Atlanta. And if it rains, whoa Nellie, you could look at 2 hours to go 1 mile.

Our traffic is a joke compared to other southern towns, not to mention major cities around the country and world. Be thankful for what we have here.

[David]

I know that we've got it easy compared to other cities, I’m just wondering if the average commute time has increased in Northeast Florida over the past decade.  That’s one thing I do like about living here -   the easy commuting, but the past few years I’ve noticed the commute times going up at rush hour. The backups getting longer on the interstates & expressways. I’m just searching for hard data to back up my perception but it may be other factors like where I live now, commuting patterns & hours I’m working.

Even if it is just my perception that’s off, I do wonder about the capacity of the major bridges in town. The Fuller Warren definitely seems like it’ll be overwhelmed in 10-15 years and 295 across the Buckman can only be widen so much.

[mtraininjax]

The Fuller Warren definitely seems like it’ll be overwhelmed in 10-15 years and 295 across the Buckman can only be widen so much.

9A/295 can be widened to 3 lanes on each side, so we have that to look forward to in the future. By then we will hopefully have an outer beltway, with a toll of course to pay for it.

[thelakelander]

Here are the volume/capacity ratio for Jacksonville's classified roadway system from the 2030 Mobility Plan. 

The roadway links with V/C ratios over 1.00 are considered our worst, as far as congestion goes.  The top map is 2008-2009 conditions.  The bottom map is projected 2030 conditions.




By the way, Clay County has some of the worst traffic in the State.

[thelakelander]

Where Florida ranks in America's worst 75 commutes, according to Daily Beast.  They are using INRIX data, which is something I'm currently reviewing for one of my Central Florida clients.

America's 75 Worst Commutes (2010)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/01/19/americas-75-worst-commutes.html

They are the highways to hell in the country’s most gridlocked cities. The Daily Beast crunches the numbers to determine your ultimate morning nightmares. How did your commute rank?

#10, Airport Expressway (State Road 112), Miami
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 183
Worst bottleneck: Eastbound, 72nd Ave/Milam Dairy Rd
Length of worst bottleneck: .46 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 22
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 16.3 mph

Commuter Buzz: ''Southbound, northbound, eastbound, westbound. It means detours,'' state Department of Transportation spokesperson Tish Burgher told the Miami Herald July 14, 2009, after surrounding roadwork was expected to force traffic onto State Road 112.

#23, I-275, Tampa
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 235
Worst bottleneck: Northbound Himes Ave/Exit 23
Length of worst bottleneck: .39 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 28
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 21.1 mph

Commuter Buzz: “We all know that mish-mash south of Tampa International Airportâ€"where Interstate 275 connects with the Veterans and Memorial Highway and State Road 60,” says Jessica Balanza. “It has been a mess for the longest time, and I don't foresee it clearing up anytime soon.

#46, I 4, Orlando
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 139
Worst bottleneck: Eastbound, Kaley Ave/35th St/Exit 35
Length of worst bottleneck: .48 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 29
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 19.9 mph

Commuter Buzz: "You can not build enough lanes on Interstate 4 to take care of the problem," Senator Ben Nelson said in Orlando. "We need to go to alternative forms of transportation."

#48, I-95, Jacksonville
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 45
Worst bottleneck: Northbound, Palm Ave
Length of worst bottleneck: .57 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 10
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 21.5 mph

Commuter Buzz: "There is a lot of congestion coming out of Clay County," Joe Mobley, vice president of The Fiorentino Group, told the Jacksonville Business Journal in June 2009. "The First Coast Outer Beltway could provide another option for people to get to work."

#65, I-75, Cape Coral, FL
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 19
Worst bottleneck: Northboundâ€"Alico Road/Exit 20
Length of worst bottleneck: 3.9 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 9
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 21.8 mph

Commuter Buzz: “You're putting your life on the line every time you drive I-75,” posted one Ocala.com reader.

[tufsu1]

but the past few years I’ve noticed the commute times going up at rush hour. The backups getting longer on the interstates & expressways. I’m just searching for hard data to back up my perception but it may be other factors like where I live now, commuting patterns & hours I’m working.

actually traffic counts have generally been down since 2007 (most likely because of the recession)....and congestion has also decreased.

I used to regularly hit a backup on I-95 northbound at Emerson around 5:30pm....most of the time now the backup doesn't hit until I get near the downtown exit....this is mainly due to the I-10/I-95 interchange being finished but also the reduction in traffic.

[Tacachale]

The Jax area does have spots that are as bad as just about anywhere - 295 and Clay County, most notably. I agree that overall it's not as bad as Orlando or some other places. It's also only going to get worse as we grow, meaning it's even more important that we stay on top of it.

[jcjohnpaint]

Yeah it is not how bad it is now, but how bad it will be when you add 500K or 1 Mil as with Orlando and Tampa.  I think we need to think about the future problems and how to avoid such problems. 

[David]

Thanks for posting that map Lake. It really does show that it's not too bad right now.

My commuting patterns have changed in the last year to where I’m hitting the few traffic hot spots that we do have. Traffic does seem to be lighter towards downtown but out in the southern parts of town it does seem to be increasing. especially at the 295/95 interchange.   

This is month 9 of my exile from the "core". Living over there has spoiled me, I rarely dealt with traffic.  Lease is up! Time to move.

[Jdog]

David, definitely agree with the traffic getting heavier south of jax...not a surprise I guess...and I've noticed that all throughout the day and into evening hours...but I tell people it still moves...

In my mind (I've heard references to the traffic accordion effect), it seems though that there is a tipping point, where increasingly heavy traffic results in exponentially more slow-downs and jams. 

To the transportation guys here, is there anything to that thought above? 

[tufsu1]

In my mind (I've heard references to the traffic accordion effect), it seems though that there is a tipping point, where increasingly heavy traffic results in exponentially more slow-downs and jams. 

To the transportation guys here, is there anything to that thought above? 

correct....basically a road can flow smoothly up to 90% of capacity...its that last 10% that really gums things up....and there is also something called the slinky effect, where an accident can affect traffic upstream hours after the incident is cleared.

[tufsu1]

Looked up some traffic counts on our expressways from FDOT....info. can be found here

http://www2.dot.state.fl.us/FloridaTrafficOnline/viewer.html

when you click on a particluar count station, a box will come up...and many will have a link to historical count data

I-95 s. of Emerson
   2006 - 127,000
   2010 - 122,500

JTB - w. of Southside
   2006 - 92,000
   2010 - 81,500 (construction)

JTB - w. of 9A (interchange opened during time period)
   2006 - 91,500
   2010 - 95,000

JTB - w. of A1A
   2006 - 66,000
   2010 - 60,500

I-10 - w. of McDuff
   2006 - 128,500
   2010 - 116,500

I-295 - Buckman Bridge
   2006 - 129,500
   2010 - 121,000

I-95 - s. of St. Augustine Rd
   2006 - 86,700
   2010 - 87,800

I-295 (9A) - n. of Dames Point Bridge
   2006 - 65,700
   2010 - 66,400

I-95 - n. of I-295/9A (by airport)
   2006 - 84,500
   2010 - 82,500

I-295 - s. of Pritchard Rd.
   2006 - 72,700
   2010 - 65,100

I-10 - e. of US 301
   2006 - 49,300
   2010 - 45,000

MLK/20th St Expwy - e. of Main St
   2006 - 52,000
   2010 - 41,500

Hart Expwy - w. of Beach Blvd
   2006 - 23,000
   2010 - 19,100