FDOT finds $120 million: Fuller Warren to be widened

[thelakelander]

Houdini has nothing on these guys. FDOT just pulled a rabbit out of some place with this one. $120 million has been found to widen the Fuller Warren Bridge and to construct a flyover from the I-10/95 interchange to Roosevelt Boulevard. Work starts in 2016.




http://news.wjct.org/post/fuller-warren-bridge-widening-fdot-public-hearing-agenda-tonight

[edjax]

On CBS47 News tonight I thought they indicated this was adding lanes in between existing structure for the toll express lanes.  Also they said not funded yet. I could have heard it wrong though. 

[thelakelander]

State lawmakers will review the list of proposed projects and possibly approve the funding when they meet in March.

[AmyLynne]

Jesus!! When we bought our house here in riverside in March of 95 they started on the bridge a few months later...now they're widening already??? Are they ever going to be finished with that fakakta bridge???

[Charles Hunter]

edjax - different projects, Action News talked about express lanes (with tolls) on 2 parts of I-295: between the Buckman Bridge and I95, and between JTB and 9B.  The report I saw didn't mention the project thelakelander is talking about. 

[Lunican]

That's a lot of money to invest into a money losing bridge.

[chipwich]

Wouldn't it be more prudent for the City to lobby FDOT to divert those funds towards constructing a new Matthews Bridge?

Talk about priorities. True the Fuller Warren gets congested, but its still a relatively new bridge and traffic is manageable for the time being.  The new Matthews bridge on the other hand may cost north of a half billion dollars and I can imagine every single penny is needed for that project.

[RiversideLoki]

So is this FDOTs way of backhandedly admitting that they totally flubbed the design of the I-10 to 95 south merger? Because it's not so much a capacity issue (you have like 6 lanes going north to 3 going south, all eventually merging on to one technical lane to get to 95 sb. whoever did the traffic study needed to be fired) as it is a poor design issue.

[ricker]

is it possible to see a rendering of this new ramp proposed?

also is it possible that the newly proposed widening might also include a local Lane between Park Street and San Marco much the same as what currently exists on the west/northbound side of the bridge from San Marcos to Park Street not requiring a merge?

[billy]

Is there any information available on proposed layouts or alternatives for the Mathews replacement?

Work has been underway in Atlanta for the flyover connecting GA 400 and I-85.     

[thelakelander]

I wonder if this $120 million investment will include a bike/ped connection across the river to tie Riverside and San Marco together?

[Jason]

^ Come 'on Man!

You should know better than that Ennis.   

[exnewsman]

Wouldn't it be more prudent for the City to lobby FDOT to divert those funds towards constructing a new Matthews Bridge?

Talk about priorities. True the Fuller Warren gets congested, but its still a relatively new bridge and traffic is manageable for the time being.  The new Matthews bridge on the other hand may cost north of a half billion dollars and I can imagine every single penny is needed for that project.

It was estimated at $700M about 8 years ago. Venture to say its closer to a billion now.

[I-10east]

I can't imagine a new Mathews without lane expansion (atleast six lanes). A new six lane Mathews, plus lane expansion on that corridor would be astronomical in price. The feds are looking at priority number one, the very important I-95 over any other bridge in Jax. I personally think that the Fuller Warren is okay now, but that doesn't matter. Whatever the feds want, they're gonna get. 

[tufsu1]

From what I understand, this project is being considered an "operational improvement" so less analysis and public involvement is needed...seems a bit of a stretch to me and leaders need to ask some serious questions of FDOT.