JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Drivers in Jacksonville's Westside will see soon more construction along Interstate 10 as a major project is scheduled to begin this fall.
The $128 million construction project will expand I-10 from six lanes to 10. The new project will cover a 5-mile stretch and comes as the Florida Department of Transportation works on three other current projects on the same interstate.
The work will widen I-10 from the Fuller Warren Bridge to I-295 and take about five years to complete. FDOT said it should be finished in the fall of 2024.
That means more barriers and construction zones on a part of the interstate on which around 137,000 vehicles travel every day.
It usually takes drivers six minutes to travel east or west during non-peak hours. But during rush hour, drivers can expect to sit in traffic triple that amount of time. Not everyone's happy about the extra construction.
Tammie Taft lives on the Westside and drives down that part of I-10 every day.
"Traffic can get jammed up. I think 10 has been an issue for a long time. There's always traffic. People going downtown, it gets backed up, so it is an issue," Taft said.
FDOT will add two additional eastbound and two additional westbound lanes on I-10 between I-95 and I-295. The heaviest delays will be between 6 and 10 a.m. and between 3 and 7 p.m.
Edlicia Tomlin lives on the Westside and has mixed feelings about the project.
"I mean, with the traffic so much ... I think it helps to have wider roads and more lanes, so I'm with it. I mean, you want quality. You don't want to just throw something up and next thing you know, you have the news being there for some tragic incident. So, you wanna deal with the quality of it, but it's just, you want them to finish things before they start another," Tomlin said.
Money for the new project is coming from this year's state budget.
FDOT said traffic flow will be maintained throughout the construction, with most of the work taking place on the sides of the road within the existing right of way.