Florida State Road 116

State Road 116 marker

State Road 116
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length: 9.026 mi[1] (14.526 km)
Existed: 2004 – present
Major junctions
West end: I-295 / SR 113 in Jacksonville
East end: SR 101 at Wonderwood
Location
Counties: Duval County
Highway system
← SR 115ASR 117 →

State Road 116 (SR 116) is a 9.026-mile-long (14.526 km) state highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It travels nearly due west-east entirely within the city limits of Jacksonville, in Duval County. At its west terminus, SR 116 is signed as Merrill Road beginning at the intersection with Interstate 295 (I-295; Jacksonville East Beltway) and SR 113 (Southside Connector) near the St. Johns River. At its east terminus, it is signed as Wonderwood Road, ending at the intersection with SR 101 (Mayport Road) just south of Naval Station Mayport. Here, the Wonderwood Road designation continues to Hanna Park.

Since the central purpose of SR 116 was to build a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway connecting Wonderwood Drive to the rest of Jacksonville, locals often unofficially refer to SR 116 as "Wonderwood Connector" or simply "Wonderwood".[2] Officially, the stretch is signed as a number of existing local roads that were utilized as parts of the route of SR 116. These sections are known as Merrill Road, Ft. Caroline Road, McCormick Road, Mt. Pleasant Road, and Wonderwood Drive.

History

Due to rapid growth in the East Arlington area and near SR 105 (Zoo Parkway/Heckscher Drive), a connection from the I-295 corridor to Naval Station Mayport was seen as a great need.

Over the years, traffic back-ups at the Atlantic Boulevard flyover ramp escalated, as it was the only direct route to the base. These back-ups often took hours to clear, and with the rapid growth in the area, combined with the need for another hurricane evacuation route, a new road was a necessity. The base needed a more-direct route from the corridor since it was easy for new people to the area to get lost on previous directions from exits on I-295, such as SR 10 (Atlantic Boulevard) and Monument Road.

The improvements to – and subsequent de facto replacement of – Merrill Road, Ft. Caroline Road, and McCormick Road occurred in stages. However, these roads are still in use today and are designated by signage still displayed on them.

Major intersections

The entire route is in Jacksonville, Duval County.

mi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
0.0000.000west end of state maintenance
0.160.26 I-295 (SR 9A) to I-95 – International Airport, Savannah, Jax Beaches, Daytona BeachI-295 exit 46
0.300.48 SR 113 south (Southside Connector) / Arlington Expressway / Southside Boulevard (SR 10A west / SR 115)interchange
6.694–
7.374		10.773–
11.867		Wonderwood Bridge over Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway
8.06412.978 SR A1A – St. Johns River Ferry, Naval Station Mayport Carrier Docks / Commercial Vehicle Gate
9.02614.526 SR 101 (Mayport Road) / Wonderwood Road – Naval Station Mayport Main Entrance, Hanna Park
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 FDOT straight line diagrams, accessed March 2014
  2. ↑ "FDOT to fund Wonderwood Expressway". Jacksonville Business Journal

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 07, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.