JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Pine Lakes is a neighborhood with more than 300 homes on Jacksonville\u2019s Northside. The community has one way in and out from Northside Drive, forcing drivers to turn left or right onto North Main Street.<\/p>\n
The intersection is just about 30 feet long and over the past six years, there have been 21 crashes there.<\/p>\n
The most recent happened this month and involved a motorcyclist who nearly died.<\/p>\n
A Pine Lakes resident named Ashley reached out to News4JAX asking for help after she said she contacted the Florida Department of Transportation to request a traffic light because she believes the intersection is dangerous and she\u2019s worried a fatal crash could happen.<\/p>\n
She said FDOT responded and indicated their study does recommend installing a traffic signal to improve safety, but funding is not yet available.<\/p>\n
Residents who live nearby say drivers frequently exceed the posted speed limit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say it\u2019s 50 miles an hour,\u201d said Wendy Triviets. \u201cI can guarantee you on any given day or time they are going by here 60 plus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another resident said visibility is limited when trying to turn out of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a blind spot right there because of the turning lane into the neighborhood,\u201d said Alethea Preston. \u201cYou can\u2019t see around the car so you don\u2019t know when you can turn out. That I think has caused most of the accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resident said the situation creates constant stress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like the anxiety of just pulling out of my own neighborhood, for all these years has been just horrible,\u201d Preston said. \u201cI\u2019ve thought about moving just simply because of this; we want our kids to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the lack of funding for a traffic light, Triviets reacted with frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d the resident said. \u201cYou mean it\u2019s all about a political bullcrap?\u201d<\/p>\n
The resident said the community needs action.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could put a light up here or do something. Do something with that 50 miles an hour. Because if you look, do you think that guy\u2019s really doing 50? No.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another resident said a signal would provide peace of mind for families.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving that safety to drive in and out without having to worry about an accident every other day,\u201d Preston said.<\/p>\n
Community members also said growth in the area is likely to add more traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a charter school coming up. Now we got more apartments up there,\u201d said Triviets. \u201cHow many more drivers are coming out of that complex?\u201d<\/p>\n
News4JAX received a statement from FDOT about the intersection.<\/p>\n
The agency said its study recommends installing a traffic signal, but funding depends on the city of Jacksonville prioritizing the potential project through the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, also known as the TPO.<\/p>\n
News4JAX contacted TPO.<\/p>\n
A representative said the agency cannot select potential projects for funding on its own and needs the city of Jacksonville to identify that intersection as a priority.<\/p>\n
That means the City Council member representing the district would need to show interest to the TPO.<\/p>\n
The council member for the area is Reggie Gaffney Jr.<\/p>\n
Gaffney has confirmed he will do an interview with News4JAX about the issue, but we are still finalizing the date and time.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Pine Lakes is a neighborhood with more than 300 homes on Jacksonville\u2019s Northside. The community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,5436,1416,99,729],"class_list":["post-283733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-morning-show","tag-northside","tag-politics","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283733","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=283733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}