JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Transportation could soon make changes to a well traveled ramp in downtown Jacksonville. It could mean big changes to how you get across the Main Street Bridge. Dozens of people have voiced their opinions on the matter. Some of them at a public forum at the Hyatt Regency downtown. Several of those people use the bridge every day either by car or by foot.
"Especially this time of year, when it's starting to cool down, you can go down at lunch time and it's just a busy activity of people looping the bridges. Saturday mornings, it's a well traveled path," said Doug Alred, runner and owner of 1st Place Sports.
It's called Run the Bridges. It's an almost two mile loop across the Main Street Bridge, to and over the Acosta Bridge, and then back to the Main Street Bridge.
"It's really very convenient that the up ramp coming from Independent Drive, means the runners don't have to cross any major intersections," said Alred. "It's a good workout, a lot of people like to do it because runners, it's called their hill workout. Jacksonville has no hills, so they can go there. It's a nice safe loop that they can run."
The ramp FDOT is proposing to close is right next to the Landing. If this proposal does go through, drivers, and pedestrians, would have to go an extra three blocks to get on the Main Street Bridge.
"If the ramp is removed, then it looks like the traffic would have to go up to Ocean Street, because you're looking at one way streets here, going over to Main Street, and then taking the Main Street Bridge. Pedestrian traffic or joggers would conceivably go on Bay Street and then hit the Main Street Bridge and go over the bridge," said Ron Tittle with FDOT.
Tittle said even though city funding did not go through for the renovations of the Landing, the department will continue with the planning process.
"The city had asked FDOT to look at removing the ramp, so in order for us to do that, we have to look at the ideas, the plans, draw the input from the public, and this is what the public forum phase is part of this that we typically do for projects," said Tittle.
If you have an opinion about the matter, you can contact Project Manager Will Lyons with FDOT: will.lyons@dot.state.fl.us
