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Overpass Plan May Be Axed Council Favor Rests in Widening Roads

Posted on: Friday, 30 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By DAVID BAUERLEIN

Get ready for jumbo-size intersections at some of Jacksonville's worst traffic chokepoints.

When the City Council votes Tuesday on killing four Better Jacksonville Plan overpasses, it will do so based on a study that demonstrates how greatly increasing the size of intersections can relieve traffic in lieu of building overpasses.

Such intersections would be up to 11 lanes wide, creating a sea of blacktop for drivers to make turns or go straight, according to a Jacksonville Transportation Authority study.

But at two locations where overpasses are on the chopping block, the cost of buying commercial buildings to make room for such mega- intersections is so expensive that city officials plan to just make bite-size changes. Those are at the junctions of University Boulevard at Atlantic and at Beach boulevards.

Take the case of Atlantic at University. Instead of building an overpass or massively widening that intersection, the city's proposal calls for adding a right-hand turn lane for northbound University Boulevard and lengthening the existing right-hand turn lane for southbound University Boulevard.

"Sure, that will solve it," City Councilman Lake Ray deadpanned, referring to traffic backups. "It will go from an F-minus to an F- plus."

Ray said he will renew his push Tuesday for putting $30 million into the Better Jacksonville Plan for bolstering traffic-control technology known as an Intelligent Transportation System. Ray said that in places such as Atlantic-University or Beach-University, where the cost of buying right of way is so steep, the best solution is technology that moves traffic more efficiently in existing lanes by using computerized traffic signals, roadside cameras and message boards.

At a joint meeting of several council committees last week, Ray didn't get any support from other council members for the $30 million allocation. The proposal before the council contains $5 million for such technology.

Councilwoman Suzanne Jenkins said improving right-hand turn lanes for University Boulevard at Atlantic Boulevard is enough for that intersection. Jenkins, who fought the overpass on grounds it would destroy the surrounding neighborhood, said the city should focus on getting money to fix the "mess on the Arlington Expressway" that causes people to use Atlantic Boulevard.

Overpasses have been one of the most controversial parts of the Better Jacksonville Plan, which voters approved in 2000 with a half- cent sales tax increase. The Better Jacksonville Plan earmarked $251 million to build 12 overpasses, but the estimated cost for those projects has more than doubled.

The proposal pending before the City Council would eliminate four of the overpasses that have faced strong neighborhood-based opposition. Those are at Atlantic-University, Beach-University, Southside Boulevard at Baymeadows Road, and Atlantic Boulevard at Hodges Boulevard.

The city instead would spread the money among more intersections by building additional ground-level lanes. For instance, Atlantic Boulevard would be expanded to 11 lanes at Hodges Boulevard and at San Pablo Road, to nine lanes at Monument Road, and to eight lanes at Girvin Road.

Southside Boulevard would be widened to 11 lanes at intersections with Gate Parkway and Touchton Road, and to 10 lanes at Hogan Road.david.bauerlein@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4581

Source: Florida Times Union

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