by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Everyone that has a say in the matter agrees that converting College and Post streets in Riverside from one-way to two-way roads is a good idea. If only doing it was that easy.
The City of Jacksonville, Florida Department of Transportation and City Council member Jim Overton — who originally broached the idea with FDOT — are all in favor of converting the parallel roads. However, there’s a slew of logistical issues that must be addressed first.
“We would like to do it, but there are a lot of technical issues that have to be worked out,” said FDOT spokesperson Mike Goldman. “We have hired a general consultant to look at the issues and they should get started after the first of the year.”
Overton said he’s been pursuing the change since he was elected to represent District 14 in 1995. (The roads actually encompass both Overton’s district and Council member Reggie Fullwood’s Dist. 9).
“I’m the water bearer,” said Overton. “I’ve been asked since I was on Council to get that done. The people who originally established RAP [Riverside Avondale Preservation] in the mid 1980s talked about this as a desirable goal.”
After speaking to many of them over his seven and a half years in office, Overton said he has a consensus from local residents that the change would be welcome. During the morning rush hour, Post Street is a virtual crawl, teeming with downtown workers trying to avoid the even larger back-up on I-95. In the afternoon, the scene is repeated as motorists use College Street to get home.
“My sense is that the residents are very much in favor of returning the streets to more of a neighborhood feel, making them two-way and not having a U.S. highway [17] going through the neighborhood. It’s a very archaic way of putting roads through cities,” said Overton. “It would eliminate that sense that Post Street is a pass-through street. By 9:30 in the morning it’s done. Sleeping dogs could lie in the middle of Post Street in the afternoon and no one would hit them.”
The problem, however, isn’t as simple as forewarning motorists and residents and changing a few signs. For one, Overton has had to be patient. While the FDOT is in favor of the change, they have had more important projects to complete first, namely the expansion of the Fuller Warren Bridge and its many accompanying side projects.
Now that the Fuller Warren is complete, Goldman said the consultant will have to look at a laundry list of items that will have to be considered. Those include a traffic count study, needed signage, potential right-of-ways that will have to be purchased and road marking.
“One-way to two-way has lots of practical issues that have to be addressed and this has been going on for years,” said Goldman. “We need to work out some issues with the City and I’m not sure how long the consultant will need.”
Goldman said the area most impacted by the switch would be the immediate Five Points area, where traffic is controlled by a series of stop lights, stop signs and a roundabout which allows some free-flow of traffic.
The current configuration has been in use since 1940 and is long overdue for a change. Population increases and traffic patterns over the years have dictated the need for both streets to serve traffic in two directions. Overton said he hopes the project is well on the way to being done in a couple of years, but unfortunately — due to term limits — he won’t be on Council when it’s complete.
“I thought, at some point, it would get done in 2004 with part of it done in 2003. They are doing the College Street paving right now. There’s no reason it can’t be done from a traffic engineering and road construction standpoint,” said Overton, adding he intends to stay on top of the matter long after he leaves office in July. “My family owns real estate in Avondale. I grew up there and have a personal interest in the area. I’ll maintain some connection to RAP.”