JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The commute home will be significantly longer for thousands of residents who normally travel along San Jose Boulevard.
For more than 24 hours, JEA crews have been onsite to repair a broken water main near Claire Lane, which is near the Whole Foods on San Jose Blvd.
Not only have these repairs stretched long into their 2nd day, but they’ve gotten bigger as crews work to repair the broken water main. As of Thursday night, four lanes of traffic on San Jose Boulevard were closed as JEA crews dig more than 10 feet below the surface of the road to repair a water main that is two feet in diameter.
While the repairs are necessary, the traffic has residents frustrated.
Flashing lights, construction crews and backed up traffic as three lanes are reduced to one.
The work has expanded as the job has gone along. As of Thursday afternoon, an additional lane on the southbound side of San Jose Blvd was closed, so crews could widen the excavation site to install safety equipment for the crews working on the water main.
"Under normal circumstances San Jose is always busy but if there's any kind of interruption like this then San Jose becomes a parking lot," said a Mandarin resident who did not want to make his name public.
Not everyone traveling on San Jose Blvd is able to take a detour, that same man was waiting for a bus that was already 20 minutes late due to the backed up traffic when he spoke with First Coast News.
"Normally the bus would be here by this time, JTA buses are almost always on time but because of the water main break and the traffic backup here the bus is now late."
So while people in the own cars can look for alternate routes to avoid sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, this man is forced to stand up and find shade near the bus stop and look for his bus to take him to the library… a bus that is also stuck in traffic.
"I just have to wait for the bus to show and when it gets here is when it will get here."
JEA tells First Coast News that the broken water main has not had an effect on water service for residents or businesses in the area. JEA also assures First Coast News that they will have a crew working on the water main break until the job is complete.