Roundabouts coming to San Marco Blvd.

[thelakelander]

City Hall is targeting its spending on improving the appearance of streets so they resemble San Marco Square, the commercial heart of the neighborhood.

The reconstruction of San Marco Boulevard is slated to start in early 2010 - after the holiday shopping season - and last about 18 months. The work will widen sidewalks to 8 feet, add antique-style streetlights, put in landscaped medians, replace the existing pavement, and construct roundabouts at San Marco Boulevard's intersections with Naldo Road and Landon Avenue. Brick pavers will decorate crosswalks and the sidewalks.

JEA will replace the waterline that runs under the street. JEA also will relocate overhead electrical lines along a stretch between Riviera Street and Gary Street. The electrical lines would still be aboveground, but by moving them farther away from San Marco Boulevard, they would no longer be a visible part of the streetscape.

The Hendricks Avenue reconstruction, completed in 2006, frustrated merchants because customers found it harder to reach their stores. The city will use a different approach for San Marco Boulevard by working in segments of one or two blocks at a time, so the direct impact in front of a store or restaurant will be significantly shorter, said Wayne Read, president of The R-A-M Professional Group, the Jacksonville engineering firm hired for the project.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/business/2009-03-08/story/quick-serve_eateries_soon_to_hit_san_marco

[Jason]

Wow, that's quite a bit of work all at once.  Should look pretty nice when complete though.

[David]

At City Hall, engineering designs almost are complete for a reconstruction of San Marco Boulevard from Naldo Road to Prudential Drive

Good. San Marco Blvd looks nice up until Lasalle, but I've always thought it turned a bit gritty after you passed European street when heading downtown.

And I can't believe the city didn't decide to do construction in smaller segments on earlier projects. How long has N. Main st in Springfield been under construction again?

[thelakelander]

The economic hardship businesses have faced with previous streetscape projects probably resulted in the smaller segments plan.  On the bright side, it looks like the city is learning from events experienced in the past.

[Ocklawaha]

One would hope that they've learned enough to pre-plan for this!

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Ock, I doubt it.  That corridor is not wide enough to accomodate a median for streetcars, two 12' lanes and two 8' wide sidewalks.  Heck, I doubt they will have enough room for parallel parking or bike lanes.

[stjr]

This plan sounds interesting but where was it when they previously rebuilt Naldo and Landon interestections with the column/sculpture at Naldo and new curbs/landscaping/palms at Landon just a few years ago?  Does anyone ever plan ahead in this city?  Looks like all the previous work will be headed to the scrap heap.  We'll see.

Also, I hope it works smoothly with traffic movement because San Marco and Hendricks are the only two avenues for all of San Jose/Sr. 13 (a total of some 15 to 20 miles of residential districts) to feed directly into the downtown area.

[Springfield Girl]

That looks like Carrollton St. I used to take that streetcar route to work every day when I lived at the St. Charles Ave./Carrollton St. bend. My daughter lives on Audubon Park now and gets everywhere she needs to go by walking or taking the streetcar. Oh how I miss New Orleans!

[mtraininjax]

round-a-bouts? Who cares when the road and neighborhoods are under water. Fix the drainage first, then fix the roads. Geez - what relative of Peyton's is in charge of the roads again?