Quote:I still call the eastern part of the loop 9A occasionally.  And now there's 9B to contend with.  That's moving along quite nicely, although the way they shift the lanes on 295 to handle the traffic has already caused quite a few accidents with the left lane merging just north of the interchange.  Right now, 9B at least gets you south of Bayard on US1 if you're headed to St. Augustine.

 

Wonderwood was a great idea.  The execution is flawed because it starts in Arlington where Merrill and Ft.Caroline come together.  They did such a lousy job of widening that stretch of road that as it's settled, it's a series of dips and bumps that make it a lousy drive until you get past Monument.  They've had to go back and repair quite a bit of it, but the issues persist.  Building an expressway on what amounts to swampland will do that. 

 

The one that always gets me is the Dames Point Bridge.  It's the Napolean Bonaparte Broward Bridge, but good luck finding anyone who calls it that in this area. 

 

The old Fuller Warren with the draw bridge and the tolls was a nightmare.  29 years ago Wednesday, I was stuck on the span as I was driving to St. Vincents to see my dad who was dying.  I had taken the bridge to get over there after leaving class at UNF, and figured that was the quickest route.  My dad died while I was sitting on the bridge stuck in traffic so a sailboat could slowly navigate through.

 

Weird - I was just talking with my brother yesterday about the strangeness of Wonderwood. It's a straight shot - yet it's Wonderwood, then McCormick and then Merrill Road. It's unclear where one ends and another begins. It's not easy explaining some oft his stuff to people not familiar with the area.

 

And I love having a river that doesn't go strictly north and south. That bend in the river makes it hard to explain to people at times the whole north, south, east and west part of Jacksonville. 

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