by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Citing a perceived funding shortfall for Better Jacksonville Plan road projects, several City Council members say they want to make sure the remaining money is spent in areas that need it the most.
The Council will put together a subcommittee to examine how projects are currently prioritized and could recommend a shift in that order if it is determined that failing roads will not be fixed. Council member Jerry Holland said Thursday that the Council wouldn’t consider new projects, nor would it take money from one district to pay for projects in another. However, he said early design estimates showed that funding would run short, forcing the City to consider carefully where to spend its money.
The mayor’s policy chief, Steve Diebenow, and interim chief operating officer, Lynn Westbrook, both said there was enough money left to finish all the road projects. However, Holland said many of the road projects are being cut back to keep them under budget.
“The reality is, when you’ve got a finite budget, but costs are going up, you’ve got to realize there’s not enough money, and we need to prioritize how we approach these projects,” said Holland. “Maybe we need to make sure that, within the same district, failing roads are done before C or B roads.”
The grades refer to the roads’ traffic density. Failing roads are overcapacity, leading to jammed traffic. Holland noted during Wednesday’s Transportation, Technology, Environment and Energy Committee meeting that several projects had either been delayed or reduced in scale due to budget constraints. He said the partial improvements may amount to half measures that would fail to adequately improve failing roads.
Inside his district, Holland said plans to improve a San Pablo intersection had been scuttled.
“I’m told we can three–lane the road, but we can’t fix the intersection. That means, as soon as the road re–opens, it will still be at F–level. The question is, if there are two road projects that are being cut back, can we take all the money and do one road the right way?”
At the Wednesday Committee meeting, the mayor’s policy chief, Steve Diebenow said the mayor’s office would put “more analysis” into how the road projects, including proposed overpasses, were ordered. However, he cautioned the Council not to interfere too much with projects approved by voters.
“These projects were passed by referendum. There were specific projects listed, specific roads listed, and they were chosen for specific reasons and very sound reasons,” said Diebenow.
The Council needs 13 of 19 votes to change the order of plan transportation projects.
Diebenow said Thursday that administration of the plan “had been put in the hands of the executive branch.” Although he welcomed the Council’s input, he said the subcommittee would have to look beyond traffic counts.
“Maybe B roads shouldn’t be built before the F roads, but maybe some of the F roads have utility issues that JEA is not ready to tackle,” said Diebenow. “Traffic service isn’t the only criteria to be used, there’s a lot of criteria that need to be considered, and that’s why you have to rely on professional planners to make these decisions.”
Holland and Diebenow both said they were unclear how the projects had been ordered. Holland said he’d “never got a straight answer,” and Diebenow joked at Wednesday’s meeting that he suspected that the overpasses were proceeding according to alphabetical order, first Atlantic then Beach.
The project lists’ current criteria would be one area examined by the subcommittee said Council member Sharon Copeland. The list was compiled five years ago, she said, and some projects may no longer be the most efficient answer to transportation problems.
Within her own district, Copeland said a proposed $5 million extension to Caron Drive now looked unlikely to relieve congestion at the intersection of Greenland and St. Augustine roads. The project would require the City to seize and condemn several parcels of property, failed to take into account new development and wasn’t wanted by residents, she said.
Copeland said she favored improving the intersection of Greenland, St. Augustine and Loretto roads, over the planned Caron extension.
“It’s a way to accomplish the same goal but in a more fiscally responsible manner,” said Copeland. “We’re not talking about taking away money, we’re talking about making sure how we spend money gets the most bang for your buck.”