JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Parents experienced some traffic jams along San Pablo Road dropping off their kids at school, but a JTA project is underway to help expand lanes and add safety features for drivers, bikers and pedestrians.
Parents want to see traffic improvements along San Pablo Road after experiencing some slowdowns this week driving their kids to and from school.
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Yvalith Ramos spoke to reporter Action News Jax Jessica Barreto in Spanish, and said when she dropped off her child at Alimacani Elementary on the first day of school, wait times were rough.
“How long was the wait time, would you say?” Barreto asked her. “Like, 40 minutes,” Ramos responded.
But there’s already a project underway from the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to help alleviate road congestion.
The JTA San Pablo Road project will provide better access to schools and homes. You can read more about it here: https://mobilityworks.jtafla.com/projects/san-pablo-road-beach-boulevard-to-atlantic-boulevard/.
A parent from the Alimancani Elementary School PTA emailed Action News Jax and says other parents are angry over traffic coming from the new River City Science Academy charter school across the street.
“I don’t have a problem [with the school]” Ramos said.
She points out traffic delays can be traced back to a combination of factors.
“It’s a narrow street and there are homes surrounding it, so there are constantly people going in and out of their homes and students going to school, so I think that complicates things,” she explained.
“In the afternoon, traffic is a bit heavy because the road gets really congested,” she added.
But the JTA project will widen traffic along San Pablo Road from two to three lanes, including a continuous turn lane in the middle, and it will also add five foot bike lanes.
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The roughly $17 million dollar project is split up into three segments between Beach Boulevard and Atlantic Boulevard.
Beyond making this road safer for drivers and bikers, JTA also wants to make it safer for people who walk by rebuilding some existing traffic signals.
That includes Osprey Point Drive (where segments two and three meet), which will include a high visibility crosswalk.
Construction will break ground this fall and JTA aims to have it done by late 2023.
Ramos says she’s looking forward to it.
“I think it’s a good thing because it would help cars drive along a lot more easily,” she said.