JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A week after a water main break forced the closure of four lanes of the heavily traveled San Jose Boulevard, JEA says the work will continue into the weekend pending conditions, a JEA spokesperson said Wednesday.
Two inside southbound travel lanes from Plummer Cove Road to Old River Road and two inside northbound travel lanes from Ricky Road to Claire Lane must remain closed throughout the water main repair work.
TELL US: How has the San Jose Boulevard water main issue affected your commute?
The repair work hit a snag because of ground saturation that made it unsafe for workers to continue the excavation without more equipment.
A JEA spokesperson said the leak is coming from a pipe that’s 25 feet deep and the groundwater saturation means crews are continuing to install equipment to deal with the excess water so the site is safe for crews to make repairs to the pipe.
The spokesperson said the work is 24 hours a day with crews working 12-hour shifts.
In the meantime, drivers in the area have told News4JAX that the closures are adding time to their commute.
Victor Ovalle said he’s been trying to avoid San Jose Boulevard during the work, but he needed to pay his cellphone bill at AT&T on Wednesday and didn’t have much of a choice.
“It’s very, very stressful, and this mess has been probably a week,” Ovalle said. “I take the back way and end up coming out by Walmart, but today, I didn’t have a choice.”
Jennifer Ledford lives in St. Johns County and drove north through Mandarin to get to a store on San Jose Boulevard. She said what should have taken just a few minutes took a half hour.
“It’s kind of annoying,” Ledford said. “I think it’s stupid that they have it during the daytime.”
Many News4JAX viewers have also shared their experiences online.
One woman wrote: “The AM isn’t too terrible- the afternoons are far worse. Traffic backs up on I-295 and the expectation of any sort of zipper merge is completely crazy. I go out of my way to avoid this debacle & hope it gets repaired sooner than later. This is definitely a critical artery in Mandarin.”
Another driver wrote: “I am having to take back roads to make it to and from work. The traffic is causing a delay in time and it is becoming dangerous! I almost got hit in an attempt to wait in line.”
JEA is asking drivers to be careful and have a plan. In a statement sent to News4JAX, JEA said in part:
“We encourage drivers to consider alternate routes and avoid the area when possible. Please observe all construction signs, detours and general directions provided by the crews working on-site. We will continue to provide updates on the job site progress.”
In the meantime, drivers like Randy Bristowe are irked, but just trying to be patient.
“It’s just life. this is the way life is,” Bristowe said. “You just got to deal with it. It’s a pain, but you deal with it.”