JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Black Friday shopping at the St. Johns Town Center turned into a traffic nightmare when it was time to go home that evening.
First Coast News was alerted to congested traffic conditions shoppers suspected to be "something other than Black Friday." Many shoppers reported being stuck in standstill traffic, some not able to even leave the parking lot for multiple hours.
It got so bad, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office had to take over directing traffic just to let cars leave.
First Coast News Facebook followers reported the following traffic conditions:
"Over two hours and still not out. Barely moved 1/2 mile in 2 hours. Something other than Black Friday has to be going on." - Jennifer
"We just got out after 3.5 hours stuck in stand still gridlock - it was terrible. There was an accident but this was ridiculous- they desperately needed officers directing traffic." - Amy
"Something was terribly wrong. We couldn't tell the difference between the parking lots and the roads." - Heather
"My daughter got in her car to only move to the next parking lot by roof top in an hour and 50 minutes. She got out of her car and walked to get food. Went back to her car and sat still. After 3.5 hours of not even being able to pull out of parking lot I drove to a location and she walked to me. I got out and was able to get her home leaving car there. Having someone get the car later. It was a mess.. not to mention she works at the town center and was there at 7am. Imagine being 18 and just want to get home after working and you can not get out of the parking lot…" - Rita
"My son has been sitting in the same spot for an hour stuck" - Brianna
"Nobody was obeying the stop signs. People were not stopping at them and pushing out after one car was let out or stopping in the intersection and blocking others. If Gainesville can figure out the traffic pattern after football games with 90,000 ppl, then St Johns should be able to figure out that mall traffic!" - Jordan
"We were 3 hours on the same road, got in our car at 3:37 and still haven’t made it to the main road." - Lisa
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office told First Coast News the agency responded to several calls in the area on Friday, but no specific incident was linked to the severe traffic conditions encountered that evening.