JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Anyone who has had to make the drive to the airport knows, there's a confusing intersection after you get off Interstate 95. Drivers don't always know what to do at the intersection of Duval Road and Airport Road.
There aren't just two lanes of traffic that drivers have to contend with, but instead, four intersecting roads, compounded with two service roads that intersect as well.
"Any person logically would be confused because there are so many options," said Airport Shuttle Service driver Terry Soles. "So grab your hats and glasses we're going through the intersection."
Drivers can navigate that area in four different directions, not knowing who has the right of way.
"I spoke to a long term airport personnel who has been navigating this for a long time and she asked me, 'Who has the right of way when I'm here?' I just don't know," Soles said.
News4Jax watched as other motorists weaved and bobbed through the busy intersection, including a semi driver who couldn't seem to figure out which way to go. There was even some slow speed chaos, as an oncoming driver was clearly puzzled by who had the right of way.
Airport Road is a two lane highway that runs east and west. But the confusion, according to drivers, is the all the other options available at the intersection of Duval Road. You can turn right or left onto Duval, but you can also get onto Airport Service Road North or Airport Service Road South, which connects to hotels, businesses and restaurants.
"One's going across, ahead the other is going across this way, and they kind of look at each other and talk in the car, you know you can't hear but we understand that language, they figure it out on the fly and sometimes they don't unfortunately," Soles explained.
The Florida Department of Transportation released crash data to News4Jax of people who couldn't figure it out, revealing 76 traffic accidents at the intersection from 2010-2015. Of those accidents, 61 percent were rear-end crashes. And, 14 percent of the accidents occurred at an angle, which resulted in 21 injuries.
Soles says hurried travelers trying to make their flight, adds to the danger of the intersection.
"People not allowing enough time, rushing to their flight, people coming here for the cruise ship, Fridays, Saturday and Mondays, and they are trying to get to the River City Marketplace for goods, and they are navigating this for the first time," Soles explained.
FDOT Spokesman Ron Tittle says drivers have been complaining for years, prompting traffic engineers to put a plan in place to ease the traffic flow.
"We're looking at getting rid of the signals here to have a better flow, changing the median area here, and even here we are talking about a roundabout, being proposed," added Tittle.
It's a proposal that some drivers are already opposed to. They say the changes might help traffic, but will hurt local businesses.
"If you take away this red light, it's going to affect my business, they will have to drive all the way down the road, so this whole side of the road will lose business, and people over here won't want to go on that road," said driver Kim Greene.
The Department of Transportation did have several public hearings about this intersection and say roughly 50 people showed up. Reconstruction of the confusing intersection is expected to begin in the time frame of late 2017 to 2018.