JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Black Friday, the busiest day of the year for the St. Johns Town Center, quickly became a traffic fiasco this year. The Town Center was a gridlock of cars and a sea of red tail lights as some people were stuck in traffic for over three hours.
People took to social media to air their frustrations, calling the standstill traffic "terrible" and "ridiculous." According to a representative for the Town Center, mall management is working with representatives for the City of Jacksonville to find solutions to this issue.
This traffic jam brought up concerns about the congestion around the Town Center the rest of the year. Jodi Furr visited the town center Monday. She said she tries to avoid the Town Center on the weekends because of the traffic.
"As the week goes on and we get closer to Christmas, it gets more and more crowded so I like to come on Mondays when I can," Furr said.
The roads around the town center fall under the City of Jacksonville's jurisdiction. First Coast News reached out to the city to see if a traffic study has been done for the area or whether city leaders have discussed the congestion. The city has not responded yet.
The town center is in City Councilman Will Lahnen's district. He said the town center is the most visited area in Jacksonville and a third of the visitors are from outside of Jacksonville. He added the number of visitors only continues to grow as more people move to the region. He asked people to be patient this holiday season as traffic ramps up.
The two main ways to get to and from the town center are I-295 and J. Tuner Butler Blvd. which fall under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation. Complaints have been made about backups and congestion on the ramps to get off those roads. A spokesperson for FDOT said they are constantly studying roads in Northeast Florida and they do monitor the ramps to get off I-295 and JTB.
Breena Brown also chose to shop at the town center on Monday to avoid the weekend crowds. She said she would like to see something done to improve the traffic on those off-ramps.
“Fridays and Saturdays, it’s all backed up getting off JTB and getting off 295, it’s all backed up. It’s three lanes and people don’t know where they’re going, so everyone is coming and switching lanes and it becomes an accident hazard," Brown said.
First Coast News also reached out to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to learn more about their decision to direct traffic the night of Black Friday. A spokesperson said they are working on gathering more information.