by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Happy Valentine’s Day, a day late: construction on the most expensive State-funded road project in Northeast Florida history is scheduled to begin on Tuesday and the Florida Department of Transportation is promising minimum heartache to drivers.
Work on the $206 million project to rebuild the I-10/I-95 interchange is scheduled to last six years. During that time, the FDOT plans to limit lane closings on both highways to nighttime hours.
“We’re very conscious of the impact of this project on traffic,” said FDOT spokesman Mike Goldman. “There might be some slowing down (during the day) due to curiosity and rubber necking, but other than that there shouldn’t be much traffic impact unless you’re driving at night.”
The FDOT will only close lanes from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., he said. When closures are necessary, drivers will be alerted by message boards and electronic signs miles ahead of the construction work. Detours will run through downtown but motorists will be encouraged to use I-295 to avoid closed lanes completely.
Forest Street, Stockton Street and College Street under I-95 will also be closed at night periodically.
The Stockton Street off ramp will close later this year and remain closed for up to three years. State
contractors will build a temporary off ramp at I-95 and Forest Street as a substitute.
The upside to all this will be a safer interchange,
providing easier access in and out of downtown, said Goldman. Traffic delays are a daily occurrence at the confluence of Jacksonville’s two major highways; Goldman said the interchange is the busiest traffic corridor in the City.
“Just ask anybody driving through there at rush hour. They’ll tell you how busy it is,” said Goldman.
And it’s getting busier. The need for the expansion was obvious, said Goldman. From 1995 to 2003, the number of vehicles traveling I-10 between the McDuff and Riverside exits increased from 104,000 to 122,000.
Handling all that traffic will require a complex and expensive solution. The 6-year project calls for the construction of 17 bridges and 21 ramps totaling about 25 miles of new lanes. The interchange will feature three levels with the highest ramp arching 60 feet above ground.
State and federal gasoline taxes will pay the entire $206 million bill making it the most costly project ever undertaken in Northeast Florida by the FDOT. In comparison, the new Fuller Warren Bridge, built in 2002, cost just over $100 million.
In preparation for the project, the FDOT spent about $27 million to buy 42 acres of land in the area and paid URS Corp. $10 million for the design. Archer Western Contractors won the construction contract with a bid of $149 million.