Main Street Bridge (Jacksonville)

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Official name	John T. Alsop Jr. Bridge
Carries	four general purpose lanes and two sidewalks
Crosses	St. Johns River
Locale	Jacksonville, Florida
Maintained by	Florida Department of Transportation
ID number	720022
Design	steel lift bridge
Longest span	111.3 meters (365 feet)
Total length	512.1 meters (1680 feet)
Width	17.6 meters (58 feet)
Vertical clearance	4.87 meters (16.0 feet)
Clearance below	11 meters (35 feet) closed 41.1 meters (135 feet) open
Opening date	July 1941
Maps and aerial photos Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps Topographic map from TopoZone Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

A 1992 map of the Main Street Bridge (the east one).

Looking south from downtown along Main Street towards the Main Street Bridge.

Looking south through the truss of the Main Street Bridge.

The Main Street Bridge was the second road bridge built across the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida (the first was the Acosta Bridge). It carries four lanes of traffic, signed as U.S. Route 1/US 90 (SR 5/SR 10). The lift bridge opened in July 1941 at a cost of $1.5 million. In 1957 it was named after Mayor John T. Alsop, Jr., but continues to be known, even on road signs, as the Main Street Bridge.

[edit] North (downtown) approach

When the bridge was first built , its north end was at the intersection of Main Street and Water Street. Traffic continued north on Main Street, with a one-way pair being made at some point; after that, northbound traffic turned right on Water Street and left on Ocean Street.

In 1978, several approach bridges and ramps were built. Main Street now goes over Water Street, and a ramp now carries all traffic from the bridge diagonally into Ocean Street, with a second bridge over Water Street. Ramps provide access to and from Water Street.

[edit] South approach

The bridge originally ended at Miami Road (now Prudential Drive). When Jacksonville's original expressway system was built, in 1958, ramps were built connecting this intersection to the new expressway (now I-95 (SR 9)) connecting the Fuller Warren Bridge and the Acosta Bridge to Phillips Highway (U.S. Route 1 (SR 5)) and Atlantic Boulevard (US 90 (SR 10)).

In 1968, a flyover was built between the ramps to I-95 (SR 9) and the bridge, with frontage roads continuing to serve Miami Road and several other cross streets. Thus there is now uninterrupted traffic flow from I-95 (SR 9) to the Main Street Bridge.

[edit] External links

• City of Jacksonville article about the bridges (PDF)