Jacksonville-Gainesville expressway

[FlaNatv]

I've heard the rumor for a long time that there is a plan to build an expressway from the Gainseville area to Jacksonville. This would be great for people in SW Florida heading to I-95 northbound. Then we would not have to drive on I-4 nor we would have to backtrack by taking 75 to 10. We could also avoid the other option of going through "speed trap" cities like Waldo. Has anyone heard of these rumor or any new action to get this built?

[Captain Obvious]

Why would anyone use I-75 to get from Gainesville-Jax? That must be over 100 miles out of the way. Are you serious?

But yes, a private group lobbied for a Jax-Gainesville highway several years ago. Nothing ever happened. I'm not sure why. I guess because there's no real way to slice a highway through Orange Park. Plus, people already drive 70mph down most of 301 anyway.

Personally, I take 301(Waldo Rd) out of Gainesville, turn onto SR16 at Starke, turn on SR215 at Camp Blanding, and then onto SR21/Blanding into Jax (Then I-295). It's the shortest absolute distance for me. Even with some traffic on Blanding the entire trip only takes an hour and a half.

Alternately, one could just continue on SR16 over the Shands bridge and take SR13 North into Jax. This adds about 15/20 minutes onto the trip, unless you live in St. Johns or South Mandarin. But it's a whole lot prettier than driving through Orange Park.

If one lives in Jax's northside, or even parts of the westside, it might be best to just take 301 all the way to I-10.

[granto3k]

I havent heard any news about this. I don't see it happening anytime soon. I did however ponder this idea daily for about 8 months straight when I had to commute from Gainesville to Jacksonville everyday.

A full blown expressway would be nice but you could probably knock at least 30 mins of travel time off the trip from Gainesville to Jax with a few changes to the current route.

Either build a new limited-access roadway from I-75 that would skirt the south and east sides of Gainesville in between the urban fringe and Paynes Prarie. I think I remember some talk about something like this a few years ago as part of a plan to revitalize the eastside. The road would turn into the existing Waldo Rd near the airport. Or improve Williston Rd with overpasses at the major intersections.

From there it is smooth sailing on Waldo Rd. Waldo could be bypassed to the west with a new road that would merge into 301 to the north of town. Starke would definetly need a bypass. Traffic grinds to a halt there during most of the day.

Continuing north on 301 there is not much until you get to I-10. The town of Lawtey should be razed and its residents relocated to Starke of Baldwin. The interchange at I-10 and 301 should be reconfigured to get rid of the traffic lights.

Another option would be to build a new road that would cut east from Starke and connect to the Jax outer beltway around Middleburg or Green Cove Springs.

[Rock2uf]

I think that Williston Rd. is Gainesville's only hope at creating a "bypass" road south of town. During most of the day traffic flows very well, but I think further improvements could be made. Just last night, I was trying to think of a better way to orient the Williston Rd./SW 34th St./I-75 interchange. The current configuration just isn't going to work for long.

I agree, though. A couple minor modifications could really speed up the trip to Jax.