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Q: When a traffic signal malfunctions, it can be chaos for drivers. And a signal on Southside Boulevard apparently breaks down a lot.
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Jacksonville Today reader Daniel B. says the signal hangs over Southside Boulevard as well as the merging lane on and off a service road just south of Butler Boulevard.
About once a week, Daniel says, the light malfunctions. No one comes to fix it, and no police show up to direct traffic, he says.
“It’s just, good luck trying to get across very busy Southside Boulevard from the service road to head north,” he says.
“Why is this traffic light out so frequently?”
A: A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation says the components of this traffic signal are old and could be contributing to the problem.
Spokesperson Jacob Pickering said the department replaced a component and thought the problem was resolved. But after hearing Daniel’s concerns, Pickering said FDOT will contact city traffic engineers (who maintain those signals) “to improve the reliability of this signal.”
FDOT data shows a daily average of 45,600 vehicles on that section of Southside Boulevard daily, with an average of 2,200 a day on the service road.
That part of Southside Boulevard is under construction now. A $29 million project will resurface the road from Butler Boulevard to Philips Highway at the Deerwood Park Interchange.
The work includes a combined right-turn lane to access Skinner Parkway and a through lane to the service road, plus a double left U-turn south of the intersection. The work should be done by late this year.
Pickering said the resurfacing contract does not include replacing the traffic signal.