JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Head's-up Jacksonville Jaguars fans, and everybody else who goes in and out of downtown via the Hart Bridge.
The city has quietly opened new direct, ground-level ramps on and off Gator Bowl Boulevard, almost a year and a half after drivers had to navigate twisting detours to get around the demolition of the overhead Hart Expressway that used to fly past TIAA Bank Field.
That means a straight shot to Jaguars home games for Southside, Arlington and some Beaches fans, and home again.
The new traffic pattern now gives drivers two left lanes that allow direct access to Gator Bowl Boulevard, the sports complex and stadium parking from the bridge. The northbound right lane on the Hart Bridge continues to provide access to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and to the Duval Street exit. Southbound traffic now has direct access onto the Hart Bridge from Gator Bowl Boulevard.
The first of the Hart Bridge’s 56 separate downtown elevated ramps started being torn down in early April 2020 as a $39 million project to divert traffic onto the surface streets around TIAA Bank Field began. That meant traffic that used to fly by at stadium level was detoured onto the four-lane Gator Bowl Boulevard, its lanes then moved slightly north as a wider version of it was begun.
The demolition work started at the eastern end of the mile-long overhead segment across from the stadium, with contractors also taking the original ramps down near parking Lot E, known as RV City during the Florida-Georgia football games.
The new ramps will remain as they are now until planned upgrades on Gator Bowl Boulevard are completed about a year from now, city officials said. Those upgrades include a wider Gator Bowl Boulevard, new connections built to the remaining elevated expressway ramp over A. Philip Randolph Boulevard and a new bridge connection to the Hart Bridge Expressway. A network of elevated ramps also would arch over Hogans Creek and touch down at Liberty Street.
The ramp demolition was initially done to open up the view of the St. Johns River to the stadium and Jaguars team owner Shad Khan’s then-planned $2.5 billion “urban village” stretching from TIAA Bank Field to the waterfront, city officials said. Khan's latest plans include a Four Seasons Hotel, office building and upgraded marina on the riverfront.
dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549