JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Work has begun on restoring two roads through Downtown Jacksonville to two-way streets. Both Adams St. and Forsyth St. are currently one-ways, but that will be changing.
This is all part of the Downtown Investment Authority's vision for redeveloping Jacksonville. Forsyth and Adams streets used to be two-ways, but they were converted to one-ways to help move cars through downtown more quickly.
The DIA passed a resolution back in 2019 to make the two-way restoration, and they chose Adams and Forsyth streets as the first for the restoration because of the amount of traffic they see.
The project includes widening the sidewalks and reducing travel lane widths to slow down driving speeds. The DIA hopes this will make the city more pedestrian-friendly and accessible, which will bring more foot traffic to the businesses downtown.
Freddy Ghobadpoor has worked at Casa Dora off Forsyth St. for 29 years. He said he constantly hears complaints from customers about how difficult it is to find the restaurant. After learning Forsyth will soon be a two-way street, Ghobadpoor believes this will get more people to stop in the restaurant.
“I think it's going to be a great idea. People will get less confused when they come downtown. And it's going to bring more of the outside people in Jacksonville downtown," Ghobadpoor explained.
Not everyone is on board with the changes. Tristan Brown works downtown. He thinks the two-way roads will end up hurting businesses.
"I think it would make it worse, honestly. It's gonna limit the amount of people that can go down each way. That's just gonna mess people up that are used to it," Brown said.
Crews are starting to install new traffic signal devices. That work is being done at night. The pavement will be stripped next. This work is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The next phase of the project will include moving curbs and widening sidewalks.
Forsyth and Adams are just the first two roads. Monroe, Pearl and Julia streets will also be restored to two-ways.