JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Transportation issued an order to the City of Jacksonville regarding the area where Liberty Street collapsed into the river.
The order includes:
The portion of Coastline Drive between Liberty Street and Market Street, which is currently closed to cars and pedestrians, will remain closed. This includes the related portion of the Northbank Riverwalk. It will remain closed until the necessary replacement or remediation can occur.
FDOT has also ordered changes to the portion of Coastline Drive between Market and Newnan Streets (which is in front of the Hyatt). On that portion, Coastline will become a one-way street with traffic moving westward. The new one-way street will now have a speed limit of 15 miles per hour, and will continue to be subject to a three ton weight limit.
The Public Works Department expects to have the new measures in place next week. The FDOT will now inspect the portion of Coastline Drive between Market and Newnan Streets every 6 months.
The new FDOT measures will be eligible for reversal when the bridge under the portion of Coastline Drive between Market and Newnan Streets is either replaced or otherwise remediated. The City is already working with FDOT on expediting a Planning, Design & Engineering (PDE) plan for the site.
The Hyatt is fully up to speed on these changes. The Public Works Department has been working closely with the Hyatt engineering team.
Part of South Liberty Street in downtown Jacksonville collapsed into the St. Johns River in February, leaving the Berkman Villas Townhomes without power because of a damaged conduit and transformer.
This area previously collapsed in April 2012 but was never fixed. The first collapse was determined to be the fault of a contractor using a 12-ton crane to clean the Berkman Plaza's windows, but the city allocated $750,000 for those repairs. Repair work was set to start on that when the latest collapse happened.
The City of Jacksonville said it will continue to work with FDOT, the Hyatt and any other necessary stakeholders on a long-term solution for this issue.