Plans to widen the Fuller Warren Bridge now include other improvements designed to make it more people-friendly. Jacksonville City Councilman Robin Lumb unveiled the revised plans Wednesday afternoon.He says the Florida Department of Transportation has basically agreed not to build a new flyover at Interstate 10 and Roosevelt Boulevard and instead extend the existing one at I-10 West and I-95 North.
The new plans also call for getting rid of the two retention ponds under the bridge at Park Street, installing sound barriers along I-10 to reduce the noise, replacing existing high intensity halogen lights with shaded LED fixtures and building a 12 foot wide mixed use pathway for bicyclists and walkers.
Lumb says that’s really the key to the whole project.
“There’s been a great deal of discussion over the past couple of year about what we do to jumpstart market driven development inside downtown Jacksonville without causing taxpayers to have to subsidize this process," he said. "And by creating this walkability in and around downtown, what we’re doing is we’re creating a very attractive feature for people who want to live downtown but who otherwise may not want to do it because it’s not walkable, they can’t get around.”
A public meeting on the plan is set for August 28 at the Cummer Museum. Lumb says state and federal funds will be used to pay for the $127 million Fuller Warren Bridge project.
If all goes as planned, he says, construction would begin in early 2016.
You can follow Cyd Hoskinson on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
