JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The reconstruction project on the Interstate 95 and I-295 interchange in North Jacksonville has been underway since 2016.
The project was supposed to be completed in 2020, and now it won’t be done until 2026, leaving a lot of drivers frustrated.
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“It’s been nine years that I’ve been dealing with 295 intersection. It just keeps on getting worse,” Uber driver Brian Anderson said
Anderson started working as an Uber driver 9 years ago, when construction began. He said since then, there have been no changes made to help drivers stay safe on the roads.
“They’ve made it to where it’s one lane, that you have to merge over which is an accident waiting to happen,” Anderson said.
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The Florida Department of Transportation said the project will improve traffic flow and safety and increase capacity along I-295.
Hampton Ray is a community outreach manager for FDOT. He said the delay is due in part to challenges faced by the project’s contractor, Archer Western.
“CSX requires certain conditions to be met before we work over and around the railroad itself,” Ray said. “The contractors also faced workforce development challenges as it relates to hiring employees to work on the project.”
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Ray said drivers can expect to see some changes this summer
“We do expect there to be some significant traffic shifts actually behind us right here, the contractor is pursuing this work,” Ray said. “But once that opens up that roadway kind of behind us, you will see significant reduction in congestion.”
FDOT plans to assess the contractor with liquidated damages, reimbursing taxpayers for the inconvenience and delays.
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