by Max marbut
Staff Writer
On Dec. 15, Bill Joyce, chief of the City’s Public Works Department engineering division, met the consulting engineers who designed the roundabout on Independent Drive at the foot of Laura Street.
The topic was what could be done to repair the road surface to make it smoother and how to stop the 40-pound granite “Belgian blocks” used to pave the surface from shifting.
At that time, Joyce said he expected a “timely fix” and “the worst-case scenario would be to have to pull the blocks up and put them back down.”
Three months later, Joyce said all the blocks will have to be removed and reset after the asphalt under the blocks is replaced with concrete.
A more rigid grout material will also be placed between the blocks, replacing the original sand that washed away soon after it was installed.
That will give the roundabout the same design being used at the intersections along the rest of the Laura Street improvement project north to Monroe Street at Hemming Plaza.
Joyce said he hopes the job will take only 2-4 weeks and he’s “exploring the window of opportunity.”
“We’d love to do this before the jazz festival,” he said. The festival is scheduled May 27-29.
Joyce has a meeting Tuesday with Landing General Manager Janice Lowe. She’s concerned about the City’s ability to accurately predict how long the repair will take.
“They told us the original construction would only last 30 days, but it was 150,” she said.
Lowe also is concerned with the timing. During last year’s Jacksonville Jazz Festival, which also took place over the Memorial Day weekend, the Landing was virtually isolated from the festival by the construction when Independent Drive was closed.
“It was a mess last year. It was devastating to our merchants. We can’t go through that again,” said Lowe.
356-2466