Traffic in Jacksonville

[BosTech]

Can anyone tell me who is responsible for running traffic lights in Jax?

I don't know how many have noticed but traffic lights in Jax are setup so badly its actually creates traffic.If you drive in any street BUT Main st you will notice lights are not synchronized,take example of University blvd.

You stop on light at St.Augustine/University,you move and just before Publix (few hundred feet) light turns red,once green you get moving and guess what?

Light on Powers/University turns red.

Always gridlock,any time you drive thru places with simillar setup,there is traffic and slowdowns.

Same with Beach blvd...most of lights are designed once you aproach from 1st next one will turn red once you arrive at light.

Stop and go at almost majority of lights create traffic,big slowdowns and it is frustrating.

If for example Beach blvd was designed so lights come on one after another you could drive more smothly,a lot more traffic would move,save gas and produce cleaner enviroment.

Seems to me there is no good setup and analysis of trafic lights in Jax,once rush hour gets going things get even worse..and for what?

Didn't some company did survey where Jax wasn't setup properly for traffic lights recently?

Who is in charge and how do we contact people to make changes?

Wouldn't be also good to introduce "smart" lights with cameras and sensors.I know its not urban to the point but something like this helps every city be better place to live.

And why there is no bridge between San Jose/Westisde area?It can save lot of travel time and help relive traffic also.

[scongro]

And why there is no bridge between San Jose/Westisde area?It can save lot of travel time and help relive traffic also.

There was a plan to extend either University or Butler over the river - It would have connected to Timuquana, near NAS. However, it fell thru, because of concerns by area residents.

[Lunican]

I have actually seen more traffic light malfunctions in Jacksonville then anywhere else, not really sure why.

Here are a couple examples of things that flat out shouldn't happen:

1. Flashing green in all directions. (flashing green doesnt even have a meaning)

2. Red - yellow - red

3. solid red in all directions (not nearly as bad as #1)

4. left and right light changing several seconds apart from one another.

some of these i previously thought were not possible (such as right and left light for the same lane not working together since they should be running off the same wire and controller) but somehow its been managed. i dont know if they are wired incorrectly or hit by lightening or what...but i've seen some strange stuff.

[JaxNole]

I've actually contacted Mr. Goldman with the FDOT about an apparent problem with light synchronization. On a side note, the best major road for me is Atlantic, east of St. Johns Bluff to the Intracoastal. These are designed to accomodate the higher volumes during rush hour, which leads to the reasons provided by FDOT.

In general, major arterials have priority over other roads to prevent a significant amount of backup. Keeping a goal of satisfying the most when it's not possible to accomodate everyone is one reason northbound Hodges has less time to make the turn onto westbound Atlantic than either eastbound or westbound Atlantic.

Times of day and historical traffic counts also dictate the timing of the cycles. For example, the timing of light cycles change to accomodate the increased traffic flow originating from NAS Jax in the afternoon.

On second thought, traffic on Union and State tends to flow, for the most part, rather well, even during rush hour.

Beach is a nightmare from Forest (especially Cortez), at 9A to Kernan.

Blanding northbound from south of Kingsley to Wells is a good exercise in learning how to drive a manual transmission.

Baymeadows eastbound from Philips to Old Baymeadows is like human bumpercars.

Kernan doesn't have any synchronization problems; there's just not enough road.

San Pablo northbound from JTB is my favorite, even crossing Beach during the afternoon rush.

The FDOT construction site has already identified thoroughfares that will have their lights synchronized in its five-year plan. The best advice given to me is to call or write FDOT or even the City (630.CITY) if it seems a sensor doesn't trigger a signal change or a light cycles too quickly.

Wow, I'm really a road geek.