Hilton hotel announced for Mayo Clinic Jacksonville campus

[thelakelander]

Mayo Clinic announced Sept. 28 the addition of a $70 million, 252-room Hilton hotel at its Jacksonville campus.

The project is expected to begin next summer with completion planned for early 2024, according to a news release.

The hotel will be located at the new Butler Boulevard entrance to the Mayo campus that is planned for completion next year.

The eight-story, 179,000-square-foot hotel is expected to operate under Hilton’s flagship brand, Hilton Hotels & Resorts. It would be the first to operate under that flag in Jacksonville.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/hilton-hotel-announced-for-mayo-clinic-jacksonville-campus

[pierre]

“The hotel will be located at the new Butler Boulevard entrance to the Mayo campus that is planned for completion next year.”

I’m curious how this is going to work. That traffic going into and out of the Mayo Clinic daily is terrible.

[Charles Hunter]

There will be a new access point for the Mayo Campus from the entrance ramp to JTB westbound. This is part of FDOT's current project to reconstruct the JTB/San Pablo interchange to a Diverging Diamond configuration.  The westbound entrance ramp will be extended and will include an entrance/exit for Mayo. Note that only traffic heading west on JTB will be able to use this exit from Mayo, but I guess that is a big share of their traffic.
See the "Open House Flyer" under the Documents tab at this link from FDOT, it shows the new configuration and explains the project.  https://nflroads.com/ProjectDetails.aspx?p=5235

[thelakelander]

[pierre]

Interesting. Does not seem to solve too much of the heavy volume of eastbound traffic going into Mayo and causing huge backups at JTB/San Pablo.

[Charles Hunter]

thelakelander - thanks for posting the photo, much more efficient than my link followed by more clicks ...

pierre - the new Diverging Diamond design for the interchange is supposed to allow the interchange to handle traffic more efficiently. Eastbound traffic on JTB could exit onto San Pablo, then immediately turn left onto the westbound entrance ramp, which leads to the new Mayo entrance.
From the FDOT website about the new interchange design:

This project involves reconstructing the Butler Boulevard/San Pablo Road interchange as a diverging
diamond interchange (DDI). Through its unique design, a diverging diamond interchange enhances
mobility and improves safety by eliminating conflict points for motorists seeking to turn left. In a DDI,
drivers cross over to travel briefly on the left side of the road and then seamlessly return to the right
side of the road on the other side of the intersection. Additionally, the DDI promotes efficiency with
only two clearance intervals (the time for traffic signals to change from green to yellow to red) instead
of the six or more found in other interchange designs.