{"id":258175,"date":"2026-05-04T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/258175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:00:08","slug":"askjaxtdy-why-is-southside-boulevard-roadwork-taking-so-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/258175\/","title":{"rendered":"#AskJAXTDY | Why is Southside Boulevard roadwork taking so long?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Road projects are sometimes moving forward even if you can\u2019t see it. <\/p>\n

That might be the case with a project on Southside and Deerwood Park boulevards<\/p>\n

The $29.8 million project<\/a> includes nearly 5 miles of resurfacing on Southside Boulevard, intersection and safety improvements at Southside and Deerwood Park boulevards, drainage improvements, sidewalk installation, signage enhancements and lighting improvements.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Today reader Lois B. wonders what\u2019s taking so long. And she\u2019s wondered that for a while.<\/p>\n

Last year, Lois asked Jacksonville Today<\/a> about what she considered the slow pace of work on the project. Florida Department of Transportation spokesperson Hampton Ray said at the time that much of the work was being done when most folks were asleep \u2014 between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.<\/p>\n

FDOT said the project should be done this spring.<\/p>\n

Lois isn\u2019t satisfied by what she\u2019s seeing. The work does not appear much closer to completion, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been VERY little progress on the highway construction,\u201d she writes. \u201cI seldom see anyone working there, and we drive by here several times each week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan someone please get an update?\u201d<\/p>\n

A: FDOT Community Outreach Specialist Jacob Pickering says the project is now estimated to be finished later this year \u2014 within the time frame required in the vendor\u2019s contract. <\/p>\n

Cconstruction activity may appear limited at times, he says, but work is continuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past several weeks, contract work has largely focused on lighting and underground utilities, which are not always noticeable from the road,\u201d Pickering says. \u201cAdditionally, crews have been performing nighttime milling and paving of the Southside Service Road, traffic signal loop installations, and related subsurface work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paving work has to be done before more visible intersection improvements, Pickering says. Contractors also have been removing foliage along portions of Southside Boulevard near Deerwood Park Boulevard to prepare it for the next phase of construction, he says.<\/p>\n

When the foundation work is completed, \u201cdrivers should expect to see more noticeable progress,\u201d including at the intersection itself, Pickering says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Construction continues on new turn lanes at Deerwood Park and Southside Boulevard. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Road projects are sometimes moving forward even if you can\u2019t see it. That might be the case…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-258175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}