by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council member Bill Bishop has Michigan on his mind – Michigan U-turns, that is.
Bishop is sponsoring a bill that former City Council member Lynette Self originated, but withdrew shortly before she left office at the end of June. The bill seeks to require JTA to install what are known as Michigan U-turns at the Atlantic Boulevard/Kernan Road intersection instead of the Better Jacksonville Plan-mandated overpass on Atlantic. Bishop is convinced his $12 million Michigan U-turns will prove just as effective at moving traffic as the $42 million overpass JTA intends to start early next year.
Tuesday, Bishop continued to lobby for the bill when he met with Council members Jay Jabour, Stephen Joost and Glorious Johnson as well as representatives from JTA and the engineering firm of Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc. In addition to the cost savings, Bishop contends the people of Jacksonville didn’t realize what they were doing when they overwhelmingly approved the interchanges with the Better Jacksonville Plan in 2000.
“I don’t think five people in this town knew they were voting for overpasses when they were voting for interchanges,” said Bishop, whose Dist. 2 and Council member Richard Clark’s Dist. 3 meet at the intersection of Atlantic and Kernan. “When they found out about the interchanges, they didn’t like it. I’m picking it (the bill) up.”
According to figures Bishop obtained from the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, 65,000 vehicles pass through the intersection on Atlantic Boulevard and 29,915 pass through on Kernan on a daily basis. JTA contends the Michigan U-turns may work in the short term.
“This doesn’t solve the problem in the long term,” said JTA spokesman Mike Miller, adding JTA does not support Bishop’s legislation. Miller also said the interchange is needed for safety reasons. “This is the most dangerous intersection in the city. There are more accidents at this intersection than any other.”
The Michigan U-turn is a traffic concept in which large U-turns are built on both sides of the intersection well beyond the intersection and require cars to pass through the intersection and make a U-turn in an effort to actually turn left. For example, under Bishop’s plan, drivers heading east on Atlantic wishing to turn north on Kernan would pass through the intersection about 250 yards, make a U-turn and head west before making a right onto northbound Kernan. RS&H traffic engineer Dave Stroud argues this concept during high traffic times would eventually create a backup at the U-turns that would extend into the major intersection. Stroud worked and lived in Michigan and says the Michigan U-turns only work when there is one major and one minor road involved. In an intersection such as Atlantic and Kernan, drivers trying to make the U-turn would also have to negotiate across three lanes of traffic in a relatively short distance.
Stroud also explained part of the problem at the intersection — in addition to the growth the area has seen the past decade — is the fact both Atlantic and Kernan were not built for today’s traffic volume. Stroud said that is indicative of the road-building philosophy in Florida as opposed to Michigan.
“In Florida, we build two lanes, then widen to four then widen to six lanes,” he said. “In Michigan, roads are typically a minimum of five lanes. You’ll see very little traffic on roads that are built decades before the traffic is there.”
Both Stroud and Miller stressed that JTA is looking at creating a solution that will work until at least the year 2028, at which point over 1,000 vehicles an hour are expected to turn left onto either road. Stroud also said the current medians on Atlantic are not wide enough for a Michigan U-turn, meaning JTA would have to acquire 12-20 feet of right-of-way on the north side of Atlantic Boulevard.
Miller added another factor that must be taken into consideration is the wishes of the Florida Department of Transportation. While the interchange may be a Better Jacksonville Plan and JTA project, Atlantic Boulevard is owned by the DOT and therefore DOT must approve any traffic solution.
“DOT has also weighed in on this with two letters and they do not recommend an at-grade solution,” said Miller. “They agree the overpass is the best option. Ultimately, they own that road and we need their approval and support. They are not supporting the Michigan U-turns. We believe that if we put in Michigan U-turns, it may be beneficial for the next 10 years, but after that, we will have to fix it again.”
Bishop insists his plan will work and save taxpayers $30 million along the way.
“My whole contention is if you design this properly, you can do it safely,” said Bishop. “It’s $45 million versus $12 million. It’s a perfectly good, viable option. This is an issue of policy and of what we want our city to be. I can’t in good conscience spend $30 million when that money can be spent on projects that don’t have money.
“I am bringing this back to the new Council with hopefully some new thoughts.”
Johnson questioned who was urging Bishop to reintroduce the legislation. Bishop didn’t say anyone in particular was backing his bill, but did disclose that the Sleiman family owns both the strip mall containing the Wal-Mart and the strip mall containing the Sam’s Wholesale Club.
Miller said JTA has held town hall meetings for residents and business owners in the area and says the overpass idea has support. JTA, Miller said, is also in a tough spot. If the current legislation gets held up in committee, current progress on the overpass will stall. If Bishop’s bill passes, everything JTA has done to date on the overpass will have been for naught.
“We have a plan and a design and are in the preconstruction phase,” said Miller. “Our concern, as well as DOT’s, is we have to respond today to the congestion problem we know is coming in 30 years. That’s our job.
“We want to start taking bids in November and start the project in the first quarter of 2008. It will be done in the third quarter of 2010.
“Council voted to approve this overpass in 2005. Just as we were about to go to bid for construction, Council opened the same wound (when it voted to deny the overpass). How many times are we going to do this? These projects will never get done. How much money will be wasted if we come to a grinding halt and have to redesign the project?”
Bishop said he hopes there’s a good turnout at Tuesday’s full Council meeting when there’s a public hearing scheduled on the bill.