Progress still lacking in Liberty Street repairs

Area around Liberty Street collapse remains closed; repairs have not begun

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly four months after a portion of Liberty Street collapsed into the St. Johns River, the area is still blocked off and the city has still not decided what should be done to it.

City workers have put up more barricades and blocked off the street, because city officials said it's very dangerous. But work has yet to get started on repairs and no one knows how long the area will remain closed.

"Hopefully there is a plan," Dana Dolloff said. "It would be nice to know what it was."

Dolloff rides his bike in the area often. He's an engineer and said he has noticed there's not been much activity at the collapse site.

"It takes a while to get stuff done, but there is no sign of activity at all," Dolloff said. "No surveyors. Somebody should be doing some engineering."

The only changes have been a ban on trucks driving near the Hyatt Hotel and altering the traffic pattern on Coastline Drive to be one way.

The City Council has allocated some funds to begin to remove the concrete slabs that can be seen sticking out of the hole. They need to remove those, so they can determine the next step, and it will be the second week of June before any contractor has to submit a bid to work on the project.

Right now, the area remains blocked off, and the Riverwalk near the old courthouse is closed. 

But that's not keeping people, including runners, from using the site. Officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office have to explain that the area is off limits.

The city must decide what will happen with the parking lot, the road and the affected section of the Riverwalk. But officials won't know what to do until they can get a good look at what exactly happened under the street, and if the damage can be repaired.

City officials have been working with the Florida Department of Transportation on expediting a design and engineering plan for the site. An early estimate for fixing Liberty Street between Bay Street and Coastline Drive is $8 million, and repairs to Coastline Drive and the Riverwalk would be more.

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. But the townhomes are back up and running with no further problems.

The 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 and the city allocated $750,000 for those repairs. Repair work was set to start on that when the latest collapse happened. 


About the Author:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.