JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — People living in an East Arlington neighborhood worry that one of their main streets could cave in at any moment.
And they complain the city of Jacksonville isn’t doing enough to fix the problem.
Action News Jax’s, Madison Foglio spoke with one neighbor who said he put in a service request with the city almost a year ago.
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And while the city closed his request for a service ticket, he says the section of Kernan Forest Boulevard has caved in even more.
“I’m concerned about cars coming in and out of our neighborhood because the street is, at any time, looking like it’s going to collapse,” said Kernan Forest resident Terrell Cassada.
Cassada said he first reached out to the City of Jacksonville last August about drainage issues on Kernan Forest Blvd. He said flooding from last year’s hurricanes took a toll on the road, leaving a hole near the storm drain and cracks in the asphalt.
“Heaven forbid we drive a car through here and it’s sinking the road,” said Cassada.
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Cassada filed a service request ticket with the city on August 24th. It was originally for drainage issues on the road.
Three days later, he updated his ticket asking the city to inspect the road about a growing hole forming near it. The city gave an estimated completion date of November 19th. But a few weeks later, Cassada added two more comments to his ticket, saying
“This situation with our drains and streets cannot wait until 11/19 to be looked into… the entire underside of the street has opened up into a sink hole under the street…This street is going to collapse and trap residents in the neighborhood with no way to get in or out. Please address this ASAP.”
The city marked the ticket as complete on October 11th and closed it officially on February 9th.
“Here we are almost a year later, and it’s gotten much worse,” said Cassada.
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We reached out to Jacksonville city officials and asked what’s been done to fix these issues with the road. After our questions were sent, a city spokesperson sent us this statement:
“In regards to your Kernan Forest Blvd. inquiry, Public Works conducted another site visit today and is now planning to accelerate the timeline to address the condition.”
Cassada will be watching to make sure that happens.
“This is a one-way in, one-way out to our neighborhood, so if the street were to collapse…70% percent of the homeowners would be trapped in the neighborhoods and unable to get out,” Cassada said.
Public Works told Action News Jax that they hope to have the issue resolved within the next two weeks.
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