JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The City of Jacksonville is set to begin a project in San Marco to bring drainage improvements and fix flooding in a neighborhood that often floods during heavy rain.
The project, which costs about $64 million, will also put in huge drainage pipes connecting the neighborhood to a pump station.
The installation will require building a deep trench across San Marco Boulevard where it intersects with LaSalle Street, making the road impassable during that phase of construction.
About $44 million of funding was set aside by the city of Jacksonville, while the other $20 million was provided by the state of Florida through grants, according to Councilmember Joe Carlucci.
Alison Moses, the manager of Rowhouse Fitness Jacksonville said she’s “thrilled” and “excited” for the project to begin.
“We’ve had some flooding issues coming up to the door, coming through the door,” Moses said. “So, we are totally stoked for the project to finally be done and ready.”
Moses continued to explain how the business has been affected by flooding in the past, especially last year when a storm barreled through the area and caused water to rush into Rowhouse Fitness.
“It was chaotic, it was scary, we didn’t know what was going to happen,” she said. “We weren’t sure if we were going to have to be closed for several days or weeks or even months. ”[We] weren’t sure of the damage in the studio. It was a lot of unknown, a lot of uncertainty.”
Now, the city is on to the next phase of this $64 million project.
Phase one was building a new pump station between LaSalle and the St. Johns River to push floodwater off the street and into the river.
The second phase includes installing new pipes that connect to the LaSalle station. To do that, the contractor is building a trench for the more than 6,000 feet of plumbing, which will require road closures starting in April.
Full road closures begin in May.
To assist the community, Moses said she will “print out some maps” and inform community members where they can park while construction is underway.
Carlucci has scheduled a town hall meeting for 6 p.m. on Thursday so residents and businesses can prepare for the disruption in the usual way of getting around that part of San Marco.
