by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Many drivers’ trek to and from Jacksonville Municipal Stadium will get a little detour for the next seven months as a $3 million construction project begins on one of the main thoroughfares accessing that part of Downtown.
The City Council recently approved an ordinance authorizing the execution of a 99-year Submerged Land Lease Easement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the Bay Street crossing over Hogan’s Creek.
The Public Works Department is expected to replace the existing four-lane bridge with a wider structure that can accommodate five lanes of traffic plus wider pedestrian walkways. The wider bridge structure will require driving pilings into the creek, which necessitates the lease for the wider footprint.
Hogan’s Creek will also be dredged to alleviate upstream flooding as recommended in the City’s Stormwater Management Study.
The section of Bay Street near A. Philip Randolph Blvd. is planned to be closed starting Monday and remain so until the middle of August. The project is scheduled to allow work to be completed before the Jaguars’ first home game of the 2008 NFL preseason.
However, the project’s parameters may be modified, according to mayoral spokesperson Misty Skipper, based on the outcome of talks currently underway concerning the route of the 31st Gate River Run on March 8, which is also the USA 15K Championship. That race historically runs down the affected portion of Bay Street.
The construction and dredging budget of $3 million is part of the City’s Capital Improvement Plan, said Skipper.