FDOT proposes new University Blvd. bridge

[thelakelander]

^Tufsu1 is talking about a bridge that doesn't exist at the intersection of Atlantic and Southside Boulevards, not the University Boulevard/Arlington River bridge.

[tufsu1]

thanks Lake....the other poster is arguing for an interchange at the Atlantic/University intersection

[carpnter]

thanks Lake....the other poster is arguing for an interchange at the Atlantic/University intersection

My bad, I thought this was still about the bridge over the Arlington River. 

Before 9A/295 was completed and before the economy took a dump I'd argue that the bridge at University/Atlantic was needed especially since it was not uncommon for University to back up all the way across the Cesery Blvd. bridge and Atlantic to back up for a significant distance in the mornings.  Today, I agree that it is a different story and there is nowhere near as much traffic at that intersection as there used to be.

[coredumped]

While this is very much needed, i think the cecery bridge is much more heavily used by both motorized and pedestrian traffic. Sadly, they have to walk on the "hump" in the middle of the road

http://goo.gl/maps/0cjE

[carpnter]

One thing I noticed about the University Blvd bridge is that it is very low at the east end where it meets Cesery and even during a Cat 1 storm it could very well be underwater if the storm made landfall near high tide.

[BackinJax05]

thanks Lake....the other poster is arguing for an interchange at the Atlantic/University intersection

Still am 

[spuwho]

Agreed Lake. The 'shame' if one can call it that is that the city didn't take the Emerson Street expressway on through to I-95 and north to the Arlington expressway back in the 50's when the whole system was laid out. Had they done so, much of the traffic on University would be using a short 4 lane connector. To me this goes in the same book as the Hart Expressway which drops off on Beach, stupidly, just a mile or so shy of the Southside Boulevard expressway. Like the Skyway of today, the old Expressway authority did not understand the need to connect it's dots for a more fluid traffic flow.

As for the bridge, I don't recall where but in some of my transportation magazines I did see a breakdown of our area bridges. Had our readers seen what I read, NOBODY would be driving over that bridge or the overland bridge. Those two bridges made the Matthews look good.

OCKLAWAHA

The original plan was for the Hart Expressway to travel all the way down to where JTB/Southside are today.  It was not originally planned to have JTB take over the Belfort/I-95 intersection as it does now (Belfort used to go all the way to Phillips)

There was local political opposition in the Parental Home/Hogan neighborhoods to having the Hart pass through them. Why they were successful in stopping it then when Springfield couldn't stop the current MLK is unknown.

This decision made in 1963 has been the source of much planning problems ever since. Traffic dumpage on Beach and the JTB/I-95/Phillips interchange issues are directly tied to that decision.

Will have to spend more time in the library pulling some old T-U's to see the how and why's in more detail.

[Jaxson]

Ock - I remember reading that Arlington business interests were opposed to extending the Hart Expressway to Butler because they believed that this route would siphon business away from the Arlington Expressway as people would have an alternate limited-access way to get to the Beaches...

[Ocklawaha]

Okay, found it. Here is the dope on the University Blvd bridge:


Facts

Name:   UNIVERSITY BLVD over ARLINGTON RIVER
Structure number:   724214
Location:   AT ARLINGTON RIVER
Purpose:   Carries two-lane highway and pedestrian walkway over waterway
Route classification:   Collector (Urban) [17]
Length of largest span:   47.9 ft. [14.6 m]
Total length:   948.2 ft. [289.0 m]
Roadway width between curbs:   27.9 ft. [8.5 m]
Deck width edge-to-edge:   37.4 ft. [11.4 m]
Vertical clearance below bridge:   14.1 ft. [4.3 m]
Owner:   City or Municipal Highway Agency [04]
Year built:   1957
Historic significance:   Bridge is not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places [5]
Number of main spans:   26
Main spans material:   Concrete [1]
Main spans design:   Tee beam [04]
Deck type:   Concrete Cast-in-Place [1]





November 2008 Inspection

Status:   Posted for load [P]
Average daily traffic:   27,711 [as of 2008]
Truck traffic:   5% of total traffic
Deck condition:   Fair [5 out of 9]
Superstructure condition:   Poor [4 out of 9]
Substructure condition:   Fair [5 out of 9]
Structural appraisal:   Basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrrective action [3]
Deck geometry appraisal:   Meets minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is [4]
Water adequacy appraisal:   Equal to present desirable criteria [8]
Roadway alignment appraisal:   Somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is [5]
Channel protection:   Bank protection is in need of minor repairs. River control devices and embankment protection have a little minor damage. Banks and/or channel have minor amounts of drift. [7]
Pier/abutment protection:   Navigation protection not required [1]
Scour condition:   Bridge with "unknown" foundation that has not been evaluated for scour.
Operating rating:   18.5 tons [16.8 metric tons]
Inventory rating:   11.1 tons [10.1 metric tons]
Evaluation:   Structurally deficient [1]
Sufficiency rating:   7.0

OCKLAWAHA




November 1998 Inspection

Status:   Posted for load [P]
Average daily traffic:   27,711 [as of 1999]
Truck traffic:   5% of total traffic
Deck condition:   Fair [5 out of 9]
Superstructure condition:   Poor [4 out of 9]
Substructure condition:   Fair [5 out of 9]
Structural appraisal:   Meets minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is [4]
Deck geometry appraisal:   Meets minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is [4]
Water adequacy appraisal:   Equal to present desirable criteria [8]
Roadway alignment appraisal:   Somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is [5]
Channel protection:   Bank protection is in need of minor repairs. River control devices and embankment protection have a little minor damage. Banks and/or channel have minor amounts of drift. [7]
Pier/abutment protection:   Navigation protection not required [1]
Scour condition:   Bridge with "unknown" foundation that has not been evaluated for scour.
Operating rating:   34.3 tons [31.2 metric tons]
Inventory rating:   20.6 tons [18.7 metric tons]
Evaluation:   Structurally deficient [1]
Sufficiency rating:   22.5




November 1991 Inspection

Status:   Posted for load [P]
Average daily traffic:   27,711 [as of 1991]
Truck traffic:   5% of total traffic
Deck condition:   Satisfactory [6 out of 9]
Superstructure condition:   Fair [5 out of 9]
Substructure condition:   Fair [5 out of 9]
Structural appraisal:   Meets minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is [4]
Deck geometry appraisal:   Meets minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is [4]
Water adequacy appraisal:   Equal to present desirable criteria [8]
Roadway alignment appraisal:   Equal to present minimum criteria [6]
Channel protection:   Bank protection is in need of minor repairs. River control devices and embankment protection have a little minor damage. Banks and/or channel have minor amounts of drift. [7]
Pier/abutment protection:   Navigation protection not required [1]
Scour condition:   Scour calculation/evaluation has not been made. [6]
Operating rating:   33.7 tons [30.6 metric tons]
Inventory rating:   20.8 tons [18.9 metric tons]
Sufficiency rating:   41.6

[Ocklawaha]

Ock - I remember reading that Arlington business interests were opposed to extending the Hart Expressway to Butler because they believed that this route would siphon business away from the Arlington Expressway as people would have an alternate limited-access way to get to the Beaches...

There might have been some truth in that, but at the time and for many years after, Regency Square was the big dog not only in Jacksonville, but all of Florida.

My contention today is that the Hart/Commodore Point Expressway, should still be punched as far as Southside Blvd. It could be built using the ramps to the Commodore as a model, IE: 4 lanes of limited access with overpasses, and 4 lanes of service roads tucked in close to the Expressway segments and separated by a vertical wall. On the downtown side, I'd knock down the ramps into the CBD, and leave the MLK interchange. Folks going into town could use Bay or Duval. The Skyway might very well use the bents of the former FREEway ramps to access the stadium area.

[BackinJax05]

so you're proposing that we spend millions "fixing" a problem that exists for maybe an hour total each day?

btw, here are the daily traffic counts approaching that intersection from 2005 (before gas prices went up and the recession kicked in) and 2011.

Southside (north of Atlantic)
2005 = 44,500
2011 = 34,500

Southside (south of Atlantic)
2005 = 51,000
2011 = 35,000

Atlantic (west of Southside)
2005 = 40,000
2011 = 33,000

Atlantic (east of Southside)
2005 = 38,000
2011 = 29,000

As to your comments about being through there recently....perhaps what you're experiencing are delays associated with the resurfacing of Southside.

Bottom line...I'll stick by my statement that the overpass is hardly needed.

I respectfully disagree. If I remember correctly, as part of the Better Jacksonville Plan overpasses were to be built at Atlantic & University, and Beach & University. For whatever reasons they failed to materialize.

[coredumped]

The bridge is complete, here's a few pictures. I think it came out good. They did a great job with the barrier and lights to match the neighborhood.

[acme54321]

Yep, I was pleasantly surprised with the aesthetics of the new bridge.