Proposal to make Riverplace Blvd. pedestrian, bicyclist friendly

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Big changes are making their way to the Southbank, in hopes of making the area more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. The Downtown Investment Authority held their first workshop on the project Thursday evening.

Riverplace Boulevard is a hot spot for accidents and to help accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists the department held a public meeting on the expansion project.

News4Jax spoke to CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority Aundra Wallace who called the project a necessary road diet.

"What a road diet means is, it's a calming aspect. We have four lanes here with the turn lane in the middle and traffic moves along this road way pretty fluidly, so it makes it a very difficult pedestrian standpoint to cross the street," said Wallace.

Wallace said the area currently doesn't have any designated bike lanes or pathways and therefore there have been a lot of accidents. This is why the department called for input from the community and designated $5.1 million for the project.

Wallace said the finished project will look like San Marco Square.

"Parallel parking, angle parking, streetscape, roundabouts, particularly if the community wants that. So we're looking to make this a place so that when people come around Riverplace Boulevard, they say this is a place that we can hopefully see additional retail pop up in and around the area as well," she said.

The Downtown Investment Authority will begin construction at the end of 2016 and hope to finish by 2018.