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Hubbard Construction Company of Winter Park has been hired by FDOT to resurface a five mile segment of Philips Highway from Business Park Boulevard to Baymeadows Road. Work on the $8.9 million project began in July 2012 and is anticipated to be completed Spring 2013.
As a part of the resurfacing project, several safety improvements are being made to the corridor, including ADA accessible bus stops. There's only one major problem. There's no sidewalks to access the bus stops or even an attempt to connect the stops to the nearest businesses. Imagine being in a wheelchair and trying to dodge semi-trucks traveling over 45 miles per hour to catch the bus? If asked, one would expect some logical reason to be given for excluding sidewalk improvements. Perhaps it's policy or perhaps it's cost (sidewalk money from the mobility fee could have helped with, if not for a recently expired moratorium).
At this point, all we can say is City Council considering adopting some form of Context Sensitive Streets policy in Jacksonville can't come fast enough.
Images by Ennis Davis
For more information on the Philips Highway project visit: http://www.northfloridaroads.com/projects/details.asp?ProjectID=553
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Adam W
November 29, 2012, 03:18:21 AM...and they wonder why people don't ride the bus.
Things like this are designed by people who've never had to (or wanted to or bothered to) ride a bus. They put these things out there because they think "we need to have bus stops" but the thought process stops there.
Noone
November 29, 2012, 05:03:22 AMMJ, Thanks for posting this update. I've noticed this along Philips and I was hoping there is more to this than just a slab. I remember a few years back listening to the Andy Johnson radio show and it was in the summer time and the conversation was about bus stops and it was pouring out. I was traveling up Philips and the timing for the topic couldn't have been better.
Was there a garbage can? Was there a seat? And was it sheltered?
It was gut wrenching to witness this traveling for miles up this corridor and the customers just being soaked, standing in mud. With no options. Garbage just laying everywhere. Will they be sheltered?
Aren't we just stoked beyond belief that we just awarded a golden parachute to the outgoing JTA director by a Board.
So many othe examples of abuse.
Just destroy the Public Trust.
Monuments for everyone.
Bill Hoff
November 29, 2012, 07:05:34 AMMind boggling.
gedo3
November 29, 2012, 07:22:52 AMThank you for noticing and alerting people to this. Sadly, many times you are the only voice "in the wilderness" to warn people. I'm hoping this isn't yet another of those times!
Overstreet
November 29, 2012, 07:48:49 AMAND they are technically not installed correctly for a pedestrian slab. It violates everything ADA. The slope is wrong. They have a high crown in the middle of a short run. Just look at how some of the benches sit at an angle. The forming and reinforcing is slack.......read not very professional. It's too close to the road. Some are too close to the ditch without bulkheading or foundation(undermining errosion) or hand rails (fall) .
mbwright
November 29, 2012, 08:38:48 AMI guess they never got around to building the new shelters, that were to be paid for with advertising. something about visual blight? But it is OK to completely wrap a bus?
I think your assessment of those that are doing the designing never actually using the product. It's obvious there is no oversight, or review. It will be much cheaper to do it correctly, than payout for an ADA lawsuit.
Ocklawaha
November 29, 2012, 08:49:12 AMSorry to disagree with you Adam W. but historically "they" don't "think," at least not in Jacksonville.
I've been looking at the BRT score card site and find it interesting that a couple of the items that increase the score of a BRT system are:
(The obvious) sidewalks
(The easily done) a pedestrian and bicycle trail the length of the project
(The low scorer) do nothing at all
From this we can get a pretty good idea of what BRT is going to look like in Jacksonville.
Josh
November 29, 2012, 08:49:46 AMHow embarrassing.
cline
November 29, 2012, 09:03:26 AMSo during design did someone from FDOT think to themselves "This will be a great idea, we're going to make Philips Hwy pedestrian friendly!" or was this simply an afterthought. It's pretty sad. I would imagine it is a joint JTA-FDOT idea? I would also like to know how much having sidewalks installed would cost in relation to the total cost of the project? Better yet, what would that cost be in relation to the Overland Bridge project?
tufsu1
November 29, 2012, 09:15:29 AMFDOT has interpreted some new Federal rules on transit as such....if you have a transit stop with just a sign, you can get away with nothing more...if you have amenities of any form (be it a bench, trash can, bike rack, shelter) than the stop must be ADA accessible.....but here's the catch...only the stop itself has to be....so notice that one could access each concrete pad by riding the wheelchair along the shoulder of the road.
I'm guessing that's the motivation behind this awesome effort!
thelakelander
November 29, 2012, 09:23:00 AMIs the shoulder going to be considered a bike lane once the resurfacing is done, like it is further south on Philips? If so, what happens when the cyclist and 70-year-old lady with a walker meet?
tufsu1
November 29, 2012, 09:28:24 AMnot sure....but FDOT directive now is to consider signing shoulders as bike lanes wherever feasible
jcjohnpaint
November 29, 2012, 10:30:02 AMNow those are some very attractive bus stops
Bridges
November 29, 2012, 01:38:15 PMAre you guys kidding me? Them some real fancy bus stops! Heck, they even have a slab of concrete and all. Just imagine catching the bus on Roosevelt just south of Timuquana.
50 mph, no sidewalk, and NO slab. Hope it didn't even rain the day before.
http://goo.gl/maps/28Z9U
cline
November 29, 2012, 01:50:57 PM^You're right. Even a simple slab is an upgrade over what we see on Roosevelt. I guess that shows you what kind of value we place on transit around here where a crappy slab is actually an upgrade. I guess we're striving to be average/below average.
Ocklawaha
November 29, 2012, 02:03:57 PMYou've just got to love the way they placed the bushes in the median, it's not enough to get mowed down running across the street, now you've got to run across and down a traffic lane to get to the stop. What happens if you take the short route and just before you run your foot catches one of those roots? SPLASH!
All joking aside, like it or not, ANYTHING like a paved slab is an improvement. We should go out with a tape and hold their feet to the fire to be certain that EVERY slab meets ADA standards. With JTA'S BRT likely seeking a high score for future funding, they had better make sure those slabs get attached to something. Extra points are awarded to a system that builds a lineal bike and pedestrian trail along the entire BRT route (See Denton Texas A-TRAIN and bike trail). Such a requirement could be golden for Jacksonville citizens.
Adam W
November 29, 2012, 02:05:19 PMTouche.
Overstreet
November 29, 2012, 05:45:58 PMDon't get me wrong people do ride the bus on Philips. I have an office near one that often has 2 to 6 people at it. Which seems a lot compared to other places.
thelakelander
November 29, 2012, 05:51:26 PMDriving Philips during "rush hour", you'll notice quite a few people walking from stops near major places of employment, Walmart, and the mobile home parks.
cline
November 29, 2012, 06:14:43 PM^Yes, there are a lot of people that use that route. A lot of people get off at the Avenues as well. I've mentioned this before but I see a lot of students that ride the bus and get off at the Avenues. They go to the Sanford Brown school which is on the east side of Southside adjacent to the Avenues so that means they have to cross at the light at Southside and Malabar. There are no sidewalks and no pedestrian signals at this light. It's basically a death trap waiting to happen. You have to cross a total of 7 lanes (including turn lanes) to get across which means you're almost forced to wait in the median. FDOT resurfaced this section a few years ago which would have been a perfect opportunity to add some ped features but they did nothing. It is clear they do not give a damn about anything other than moving cars.
Ocklawaha
November 29, 2012, 09:09:36 PMThe sidewalk from downtown on the west side of Philips Highway end at Reba Street.
Sidewalk from downtown on the east side of Philips Highway end at Fleetwood Trailer Park. 3.78 miles short of Philips and the Avenues, this indicates that we've got to build about 8 miles of mixed use trail to get a fully walkable Philips Highway.
There is a short segment of sidewalk in front of BJ'S and Lowes on the west side of Philips which ends just south of the Scan Design store .
It would be nice if MJ and the local CPACS and BIKE CLUBS to pressure a system of mixed use arterials with downtown as the hub.
Who says Jacksonville doesn't have sidewalks?
Adam W
November 30, 2012, 03:11:16 AMI used to catch the bus from my apartment in Riverside to Baymeadows way. The route I took home ran up Phillips Highway (I would get off the bus after it crossed the river on the Acosta bridge and would walk home up Riverside Avenue instead of waiting forever for a connection - it was just quicker that way... if a little scarier at night).
When I changed jobs and started working at Bank of America, I had a steady ride and eventually got a car. But one time I had to catch the bus to work from Riverside to the BoA office park (or "campus" as they loved to call it) on Southside near the Avenues. That took almost two hours. When I finally got there, I actually was deposited at the Avenues Mall and had to walk into the campus along the edge of the road (no sidewalk) until I could cross into one of the interior lots and then work my way towards my building. It was quite an interesting commute.
Taking the bus in Jacksonville really is difficult if you have to go any appreciable distance and don't live on a direct route. It's really a shame, because there is something great about being able to take the bus and not have to worry about driving - my wife actually chose to take the bus to work for a few months one year when she was living in Riverside and work in the Regency area. She finally gave up on it because she got tired of having to wait for a second bus to take her to her office when she got to Regency, even though she was within walking distance - simply because the area wasn't pedestrian-friendly.
Ocklawaha
November 30, 2012, 09:31:53 AMMoved from another thread:
Josh
December 06, 2012, 02:11:34 PMIt's nice to see the news is starting to pickup this story. No idiotic comments attached yet however.
http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/actionlocal/story/Questionable-sidewalk-construction-on-Southside/MpxbhPLf-U2iAcd4bjjZeA.cspx
Jaxson
December 07, 2012, 12:03:29 AMI agree with the previous posts about the need for better improvements that are more amenable to those who use public transit, but we are at cross purposes with those who argue that they are not willing to foot the bill to make real improvements possible.
SightseerLounge
December 25, 2012, 05:44:46 PMNow, just imagine if they took the "barely compliant" mentality and put some concrete slabs at Union Terminal! I wouldn't mind that at all!