FDOT finds $120 million: Fuller Warren to be widened

[Joe Fleming Island]

How do you guys know the type of vehicle I drive and how long my commute is?

Hey, Joe and welcome to the forum. Seems that you are the butt of many sarcastic remarks. I'm sure some of these smartasez are sorry that they had to pick on you. They don't know anyone else to blame. Personally, I think you are not to blame. Heck, you drive the highways that are provided for you. Most of us forum crawlers do the same but we like to pretend that we all use another form of transportation.

They need to commute daily on Metro-North, for at least 1 year, and then reflect.  It's cool, you get to:

- walk to the station in all kinds of weather
- try/fight to get a seat (avoid the middle one at all costs)
- find a spot for your outerwear
- interact with some of the crabbiest people on earth
- walk to work from the station
- do it all over again on the way home

Joe Fleming Island says "Never Again!.  Give me nice highways and a lot of them!"

[MEGATRON]

Who cares whether they talk to RAP?

Plus, this expansion will negatively effect homes and businesses in the Riverside neighborhood.... you would think a public agency would engage someone (anyone?) in the neighborhood in some meaningful way instead of just completely surprising everyone (with funding already identified) in a normally low-key, ho-hum meeting on Monday night (that is normally reserved to talk about capital projects that have already been vetted publicly) with the bare minimum of notice.

Then host a community meeting.  RAP does not speak for all of us.

[cline]

How do you guys know the type of vehicle I drive and how long my commute is?

We know because the Census Bureau tells us that Clay County commute times are 2nd longest in the state- over 30 minutes.

[MEGATRON]

This is an auto-centric city and that's not going to change anytime soon. I'm sure there were similar complaints in Atlanta as the connector grew from 8 to 12, to 16 lanes.

Yeah, but the answer is not to make it more auto-centric which is what the expansion will do.  How has the expansion of Atlanta highways affected traffic in ATL?  Any less congested?  That's what I thought.

[MEGATRON]

David, you chose to live across the river from where you work.  You pay the price for that decision having to put up with a bit of a slow down in your commute.  Don't make everyone else pay the price for you.

You're right, I personally contacted the FDOT and said "build more lanes!"

And if the schools didn't suck in Riverside I would live there, but alas they do. So I can't. Not rich enough to do private either.

The reaction to this project surprises me honestly. How much is it really going to change the neighborhood? An office building, a dog park. It's not the end of the world.

My parent's Englewood neighborhood was cut in half by I-95. This isn't so bad.

Using bad schools and the construction of 95 to justify another piss poor project.  Fantastic reasoning there.

[mtraininjax]

Here, a six story office building between Oak and May Streets will be demolished to accommodate more lanes on the Fuller Warren Bridge.

I never liked that building anyway, nothing, and I repeat nothing HISTORIC about that aluminum sided building.

If this does go through, perhaps the Dog Park will get the funding it needs from FDOT to clean up the mess they left the last time through!

These road projects are affecting resale and value of the bungalows and cottages in this part of Riverside. We have mitigated to the extent possible for homeowners with landscaping, double pane windows, heavy doors.  Most of our neighbors living in those bungalows do not have resources to handle increased noise. If you dream of a peaceful and attractive neighborhood for yourself and children, you will think twice about moving here. And anyone who thinks we should quit complaining and ask for a mitigating noise wall, imagine living in your neighborhood encased in concrete walls. 

That is complete horse manure. The values in Riverside are some of the highest in the city & RISING, people don't judge the neighborhood based on the noise level of the roads. If they did, no one would live next to 295 near Baymeadows, but that area is BOOMING. It has to do with the amenities in the area, and Riverside is growing and thriving. You folks make it sounds as if adding more lanes will kill ANY and ALL infill in Brooklyn. Get real, get a grip, or move out to Middleburg where you probably belong.

If the Dog Park is an issue, there is PLENTY of Riverside Park to be utilized. If not there, there are 336 OTHER parks in Jacksonville where we could build the 1st City Dog Park. Relax, breathe!

RAM can be moved to Memorial Park or Riverside Park for that matter. Both would thrive and do well with the event, or it can be moved as well, perhaps to 220 Riverside or the area where the old fire station is located, or Annie Lytle, get creative. Dr. Wood would not call this the end, merely a new opportunity.

FDOT's offices are right in front of the US17/10 interchange, how and why they built the 95/10 flyover is beyond any and all comprehension. They do what they do and we just live with it. I have my sunpass and I fly on it, so no big deal to me, bring it on FDOT!

[David]

Thank you, I thought so myself. 

I called FDOT and said "hey, I need more lanes to weave in and out of while driving my SUV" They said no problem.

Doesn't seem like that bad of a project, still not sure what the ruckus is about. This very project happens in most newer U.S. cities that are growing.

The schools sucking is another issue. It's something in town schools should address if they want to stop everyone from defecting to the burbs in the name of a good public education. 

And yes, the original interstate building project literally tore neighborhoods apart, what's the worst this one is going to do?

The article said they will be at maximum capacity when it's complete. There's no room for more expansion after this. Like my friend said, it should've been built this way to begin with. But it wasn't.

Just seems like everyone's getting upset over nothing.

[fieldafm]

And yes, the original interstate building project literally tore neighborhoods apart, what's the worst this one is going to do?

Just seems like everyone's getting upset over nothing.

Just b/c it was wrong in the 50's, doesnt make it any less wrong now.  Hopefully, the community demands better.

Tearing down homes, businesses and cultural institutions has got to stop.  I lived in Atlanta.  I sure as hell wouldnt have wanted to tear down parts of Georgia Tech to widen some highway lanes... and I commuted 50 minutes one way to work.

Then host a community meeting.  RAP does not speak for all of us.

They need to host a whole hell of a lot of them.  If you live in Riverside (or have ever gone to the Riverside Arts Market), this would be like backing up some Mayflower moving vans to Everbank Field at 1AM and start packing up in the quiet of the night.

This is very, very wrong.

[mtraininjax]

The schools sucking is another issue. It's something in town schools should address if they want to stop everyone from defecting to the burbs in the name of a good public education. 

Yes, some urban schools do suck, but they are getting better. Pinedale is a "B" school, West Riverside has a new prinicple, so we are hopeful, but hey, if you are on Dancy to US17, you get to go to Fishweir which is an "A" school. So there are some very good urban schools at the elementary level. Lee seems to have had some nice upgrades and these grades are only about the achievements of the kids. This is the wrong forum for this, but the parents should be graded right along with the kids, because kids need role models. Back to the fun of I-95 and more lanes.

I agree with you on traffic, we don't have traffic here. Go to Atlanta or Miami or heck, Orlando, we don't have traffic. Orlando takes you an hour or two to go 5 miles on I-4 through downtown. This is nothing!

Tearing down homes, businesses and cultural institutions has got to stop.  I lived in Atlanta.  I sure as hell wouldnt have wanted to tear down parts of Georgia Tech to widen some highway lanes... and I commuted 50 minutes one way to work.

I lived in Atlanta, Virginia-Highlands, dekalb county/city of atlanta. Some of GT needed to be torn down years ago, especially Techwood, but no one had the balls to do it until the Olympics came. Tech has survived and purchased buildings around it, much like Georgia State has done. I'd say both are doing well, even with 75/85 running through them and around them and over them.

Tearing down the aluminum eyesore "RPR or whatever it is called" in Riverside, is no loss to me. It is plain ugly. Tearing down the original City Hall at Ocean and Adams was a crime, because what we received was the 1960s version of a downtown public library, so ugly and decrepit, no one wants to use it now, as in no one is in it now.

[jaxlore]

Wow ridiculous. If it was april I would think its a joke. Put the money towards a train. period.

[I-10east]

I keep hearing people mention this whole "adding pedestrian sidewalks to the FWB". Is that even possible on the side of a major highway? Last time I checked, the US Interstate Highway System discourages pedestrians, low speed mopeds etc; For good reason, your safety.   

[David]

I get that the traffic is nothing compared to other cities, but if we don't expand capacity now and do nothing, then it will be just as bad one day and people will ask why they didn't do something ahead of time.

Building more roads doesn't fix everything but it's a major interstate intersection. It's not a shock they need to expand capacity.

And I'm definitely for a pedestrian option to be included. I did not like getting escorted off the Fuller Warren bridge by JSO last time I walked across it. (This was back in my urban core dwelling/ suburban-road hating days of course )

The Acosta's like an extra mile. That's 20 minutes on foot.

[cline]

if we don't expand capacity now and do nothing, then it will be just as bad one day and people will ask why they didn't do something ahead of time.

So what is this magic capacity number where all traffic will flow smoothly at all hours of the day?  6 lanes, 8 lanes, 10 lanes, 12 lanes?  Sorry, but we could add 16 lanes and they will eventually get congested.

[mtraininjax]

The Acosta's like an extra mile. That's 20 minutes on foot.

Yeah, but that is along the Riverwalk, which is much cooler and nicer than the top of the Fuller Warren.

Why not send the big rigs around on I-295 like Atlanta does for I-285? Unless you have an in-town delivery, you send the trucks around on the bypass.  So many options. I agree, a streetcar, Trolley, Bus, express lane should be added if they add the lanes.

[Traveller]

I keep hearing people mention this whole "adding pedestrian sidewalks to the FWB". Is that even possible on the side of a major highway?

When they rebuilt the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the D.C. Beltway, they added a pedestrian path to the northern span (westbound inner loop).  So it is possible.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-06-07/news/36794301_1_bike-trails-national-trails-day-bike-path