Jacksonville, FL (October 15, 2019) – A nearly two mile strip of Southside Boulevard (SR-115) has been a dark corridor for many years. The unlit section spans from Philips Hwy (US-1) to the overpass Southside Connector just north of the Paradise Island community. It’s been a concern of Council Member Danny Becton for the last few years, but as a result of his efforts and requests, FDOT conducted a study of this roadway and determined it does warrant the upgrade of lighting to improve current conditions.
Like most request and projects submitted to the transportation agencies, there are specified procedures that must be completed before funds can be allocated and changes can be made. The same goes for requested lighting conditions. The first determination is whether the requested corridor is owned by the city or state. The agency will then perform a warrant study that uses the Manual on Uniform Traffic Studies (MUTS) to evaluate the lighting geometrics, operational, environmental, and collision criteria to score it for the defined deficiency.
FDOT’s report specified that the “night-to-day collision ratio was greater than 2.0; therefore, lighting is warranted per FDOT form number 750-020-20”. FDOT continues in their report by saying “the overall nighttime crashes are underrepresented in this segment compared to statewide overall crash averages; however, the injury, angle, pedestrian and run-off-road crashes are all over-represented at night.”
The report also stated “the benefit to cost ratio for the installation of highway lighting is 3.31, which justifies highway lighting. Based on observations, field data, nighttime crash history, and engineering judgement, implementation of corridor lighting and intersection level lighting at all signalized intersections is recommended. The net present value costs is $4,663,626.74.”
This section of roadway represents 1.629 miles and is considered an urban principal arterial roadway. The road services residential, commercial, as well as, some industrial facilities. The traffic volume reaches about 28,000 for the Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) between Philips Hwy and Deercreek Club Road and 36,000 AADT starting north of Deercreek Club Road to the connector.
As a result of this roadway passing the warrant study, FDOT has indicated that design work will begin immediately. It will be included in their work program and hopefully become one of the upcoming improvements that are slated for Southside Blvd in the coming years.
CM Becton Initiates FDOT Lighting Study on Southside Blvd
