The End of State Road 9A

[Metro Jacksonville]

The End of State Road 9A



As construction of the State Road 9A (SR 9A) comes to an end, a new name for the highway is currently being installed throughout town.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/758

[Jason]

I'm gald to see the I295 loop nearing completion but we can do without the 9B extension, IMO.

[Ocklawaha]

Okay, good, now could the wizards at City Hall or JTA figure out how to rename JTB, I mean, J turner Butler, or uh, JT Butler, no I'm sorry, Butler Blvd Freeway, oops that's not right, Butler, something that makes CONSTANT sense?  This is not to say Mr. JTB might not deserve a name, but do we need all three? and in every possible combination?

Also, what about these signs one passes after coming into town on the super-slab... "Jacksonville 17 miles?,"
"Jacksonville 12 Miles,"  Huh? Has Florida ever measured the distance from Jacksonville to anywhere? Are they aware the City Limits changed in the 1960's? Can ANYONE at FDOT spell "Downtown Jacksonville?" Replacing these signs with "Downtown Jacksonville" or "Jacksonville CBD" signs would make a lot of sense.

Ocklawaha

[Jason]

Also, what about these signs one passes after coming into town on the super-slab... "Jacksonville 17 miles?,"
"Jacksonville 12 Miles,"  Huh? Has Florida ever measured the distance from Jacksonville to anywhere? Are they aware the City Limits changed in the 1960's? Can ANYONE at FDOT spell "Downtown Jacksonville?" Replacing these signs with "Downtown Jacksonville" or "Jacksonville CBD" signs would make a lot of sense.

I'm with ya on that one!  I've always wondered why the signs don't read that way.

[Jason]

Okay, good, now could the wizards at City Hall or JTA figure out how to rename JTB, I mean, J turner Butler, or uh, JT Butler, no I'm sorry, Butler Blvd Freeway, oops that's not right, Butler, something that makes CONSTANT sense?  This is not to say Mr. JTB might not deserve a name, but do we need all three? and in every possible combination?

Is JTB built to federal standards?  Could it too be renamed to say I395 or something not used??

[Steve]

They are slowly doing that - the new signs from I-10 East say Downtown Jacksonville.

As far as the mileage signs, I have no idea why they still measure from the old city limits.

[Jason]

I want to believe that I've heard that the signs measure to the city center but I don't know if its true or not.

[blizz01]

I think that's correct - the same can be said for distances to Orange Park, Green Cove Springs, Palatka, etc.  Even if you use Mapquest & simply select the city/town without specifics, you always dump @ city center/downtown.......

[stug]

JTB, J. Turner Butler Blvd., Butler Blvd, etc. = S.R. 202. Simplifies things a little bit.

[Jason]

Heh, I forgot that it even had a state road number!

If it meets federal highway standards it could be taken over as an interstate spur and renamed, just like 9A.  Anyone know if it meets these standards?

[Charleston native]

I want to believe that I've heard that the signs measure to the city center but I don't know if its true or not.

From what I understand, that is how all distances to cities are measured and designated on highway signs. It basically is the distance to the downtown of the city, not the distance from where you actually enter city limits.

[David]

Since we're on the topic of discussing naming conventions of our city's roads, I've always wondered why we go by some of the bridges official names and others we use the area of town they feed into.

Here's a long standing debate I have with my friends I'll use as an example: Why can't we call the Matthews bridge the Arlington bridge? I've always called it that, not even thinking twice about it, only to get scolded by friends who say "noooooooooo Dave it’s called the Matthews bridge, you don’t call the Buckman bridge the Orange Park bridge do ya?"

Ok, true, but we don’t call the Main Street Bridge the John T. Alsop Jr. Bridge either. "Yeah, what you wanna do is take 95 downtown, then go over the John T Aslop Jr Bridge, and then hang a left on Bay." Or when giving directions to the airport from the beach most wouldn't say "take 9A to the  Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge, hit 95 and get off at Duval road!

Proposed changes:

Matthews- Arlington bridge
Acosta= The Neon Bridge
Buckman= Worlds Longest Left Turn Lane With an Occasional Couch Laying in the Middle Lanes, bridge.

Ok, maybe we can leave the Acosta & Buckman as they are,  but i'm passionate about change. And change starts today! I hearby change the name of the Matthews bridge to the Arlington bridge.

*breaks champagne on newly installed concrete filled grating*

[Jason]

Buckman= worlds longest left turn lane with an occasional couch laying in the middle lane, bridge.

Don't forget the Ostrich incident...  I was stuck on the buckman for 2 1/2 hours watching crews scamper from side to side trying to catch an ostrich that somehow escaped from a circus truck.  It was hilarious and maddening all at the same time!  That is the worst bridge I've ever seen when it comes to people losing ladders and plywood.  Tie straps people!

[David]

Buckman= worlds longest left turn lane with an occasional couch laying in the middle lane, bridge.

Don't forget the Ostrich incident...  I was stuck on the buckman for 2 1/2 hours watching crews scamper from side to side trying to catch an ostrich that somehow escaped from a circus truck.  It was hilarious and maddening all at the same time!  That is the worst bridge I've ever seen when it comes to people losing ladders and plywood.  Tie straps people!

So true with the ties traps! I haven't heard about the Ostrich incident, I did hear about sheep running amuck on 295 near the Buckman several years ago, but yeah, I would've paid money to have seen the Ostrich act.

And oh! Wasn't it a ladder that caused a semi truck to veer off and knock a pickup truck off the Buckman into the St Johns several years back? I've been guilty of redneck-rigging furniture to a friends truck to move furniture every now and again, but I did make sure I had multiple bungee cords and straps at least!

[DemocraticNole]

A couple of points:

1) City mileage markers are measured from municipalities' city hall. That is why it always says 12 miles to Jacksonville, even when in the city limits. When I lived in Tallahassee, it was the same thing as well as Fort Worth, TX. Not sure why they do it that way, but they do.

2) JTB is not up to federal highway standards. The interchange with I-95 would have to be completely redone for that to occur, as well as making some modifications to the Belfort Rd. interchange.

I agree on the naming issues of JTB. For one, I don't think it should be called a Boulevard, because it is a limited access freeway. Now Florida seems to like to call these Expressways, but I think the term freeway is better suited. Save expressway for toll roads. So I think they should go with J.T. Butler Freeway on all the signage. It is easier than J. Turner Butler, but still gives enough recognition to the man it was named for that simply Butler would not.

Also, change the name of the Hart Bridge Expressway. That is very boring and unimaginative. How about something like Jaguar Freeway, since it does dump traffic right at the stadium.

I'm also for giving I-95 and I-295 names to help people identify what part of the freeway they are on, like they do out west. For example in Fort Worth, I-30 west of I-35W was the West Freeway and east of I-35W it was the East Freeway. In Phoenix, you have I-17 as the Black Canyon Freeway and I-10 west of downtown is the Papago Freeway and east of downtown is the Maricopa Freeway. So I would propose adding some kind of name to the road such as maybe the St. Augustine Freeway for I-95 south of I-10. I-295 east of I-95 could be the First Coast Freeway.