by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The latest walk-through of the new Duval County Courthouse project gave the City and court representatives time to present their stance on the future of Monroe Street between Broad and Julia Streets in front of the new courthouse.
Fourth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Donald Moran and Mayor John Peyton were joined by City Council President Jack Webb and council members Michael Corrigan, Art Shad, Bill Bishop and Don Redman to look at where Monroe Street would curve around the front of the new courthouse.
Looking out the window from the seventh floor, Moran expressed his concern for the 5,000 people who visit the courthouse each day.
“Most of the people visiting the courthouse will be using the parking garage directly across the street and having Monroe Street open will make them have to cross two roads of Downtown traffic to get to the only public entrance to the courthouse,” said Moran.
“Monroe will severely cramp access to the courthouse.”
The current plans have Monroe Street curving around the front of the new courthouse and functioning as a one-way street flowing east into Downtown.
That design has the street closely paralleling Adams Street, which flows west away from Downtown.
Moran also explained that jurors will not be parking across the street, or streets, from the new courthouse. They will either continue to be shuttled from parking lots near EverBank Field or possibly relocated to the lots near the Osborn Center.
Peyton agreed with Moran on the future of Monroe Street in front of the new courthouse.
“When you consider curving Monroe Street around the front of the building, I worry that we are not giving this building enough breathing room,” said Peyton.
“When looking at the street you have to ask, ‘Is Monroe Street critical?’ Also, ‘What is our goal? Is Downtown going to be a traffic-driven community or a pedestrian-driven community?’”
Council member Art Shad agreed with the idea of shutting down the street.
“We closed it when we decided to build the courthouse in the middle of the road,” said Shad. “You’d like not to disrupt the traffic flow of the grid system that we have Downtown, but it’s not like we don’t have other roads that people can utilize to get to the same places Downtown.”
Council is discussing the issue in Ordinance 2011-164, which received its second reading last night at council and will return to the Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee for further discussion April 4.
Monroe Street has been closed during the construction of the new courthouse with the idea it would reopen when the courthouse was completed.
The courthouse now extends onto and beyond Monroe Street, so the road was designed to curve around the front of the building. Ordinance 2011-164 has been proposed to permanently close the section of the road in front of the courthouse, but a final vote has not been taken on the legislation.
Another contentious issue involving the new courthouse has been a proposed elevated walkway to connect the new courthouse to the old federal courthouse, where the State Attorney’s Office will be located.
Moran has been against the idea and State Attorney Angela Corey has lobbied for the walkway for the safety of her staff, as well as others who will soon be occupying the renovated building.
The hurdle that was delaying the project was approval from the State Historic Preservation Office, which was achieved after plans were redesigned in January and resubmitted, according to Senior Project Manager David Schneider.
Plans were approved March 10.
Schneider expects to receive the final plans in the next few weeks and then bid the project.
The project is expected to be near “seven figures” and will be a part of the $350 million assigned for the entire project.
But the design will have to be approved by the Downtown Development Review Board before it can begin and Schneider expects to go before the board in April.
“You can see how close together those buildings are,” said Moran. “I don’t see a need for the bridge.”
356-2466