Jacksonville Transportation Authority and city officials gathered Arlington residents Wednesday night to weigh in on a $32 million to $34 million redesign of University Boulevard, between the Arlington Expressway and the Merrill Road roundabout. Four different design concepts were on the table, ranging from keeping the corridor at five lanes with updated signals to narrowing sections down to just three lanes.
According to News4JAX, two of the four options would introduce roundabouts along the corridor, while all four of the shared-use-path designs call for a 10-foot shared-use path on both sides near Arlington Road, transitioning further along the corridor to a shared-use path on the west side and a six-foot sidewalk on the east side.
A Corridor Businesses and Residents Know Well
Melvin D. Williams, who owns Smoke City BBQ along University Boulevard, told the station that traffic and speeding are prevalent on the road and that more police presence is needed. He also raised concerns specific to the design options involving roundabouts, saying a roundabout could make it difficult for customers to pull in or out of his business.
Resident Betty Elser voiced a related worry at the workshop, noting that some drivers stop in the middle of roundabouts because they do not know how to navigate them, which she said causes traffic to back up substantially. That skepticism echoes the corridor's own history: JTA completed a $4 million “turbo roundabout” at University Boulevard and Merrill Road in February 2022, the first of its kind built in the United States, designed with spiral lane dividers to keep drivers from changing lanes mid-circle while handling roughly 33,000 vehicles a day near Jacksonville University, according to WJCT News 89.9.
City Says Roundabouts Cut Delays Despite the Learning Curve
Nina Sickler, the city of Jacksonville's director of public works, pushed back on some of the roundabout concerns at the workshop. She said roundabouts create fewer conflict points and reduce delay compared with waiting at a traffic signal, per the News4JAX report.
Option 4 emerged as the community's top choice following the first public workshop, and at least one version of that option includes a roundabout near corridor businesses — the same configuration drawing pushback from owners like Williams.
Funding Flows From a 30-Year Gas Tax Measure
The redesign is being pursued under JTA's MobilityWorks 2.0 program, which draws funding from Local Option Gas Tax 2, a $490 million local tax measure dedicated to regional infrastructure projects over 30 years, according to JTAFLA. The program is funding 17 major infrastructure projects across Northeast Florida.
Safety at the Center of the Redesign
Pedestrian and cyclist safety is a focus of the proposed corridor redesign.
Jacksonville University awarded an art project for the center of the Merrill Road roundabout to a San Francisco artist.
Final design on the University Boulevard redesign is expected to begin in early 2027, with construction expected in 2029, though which of the four design concepts will ultimately move forward remains to be determined as officials continue gathering community feedback.
