Q. After reading about the start of construction on the new $62.84 million medical examiner’s office at 4368 N. Davis St., Jacksonville Today newsletter reader Ollie T. wondered about the road behind that site.
He asks:
Part of West 44th Street runs directly behind the new medical examiner’s office site on North Davis Street. For many years, the half-mile stretch of narrow roadway was a connection for drivers between Golfair Boulevard and the Gateway Town Center.
At some point, the city blocked off West 44th Street a few dozen feet off North Davis Street. More recently, the city also barricaded West 44th Street as it merged with the south end of the Gateway mall.
A: When we asked the city, a spokesperson called that segment of West 44th a “private driveway” running through the new medical examiner’s site, and it “will not be re-opened as a cut-through to Gateway Mall on COJ owned land.”
“The asphalt is not located in a public right of way and instead is located on a series of ‘fee simple’ parcels,” the city’s response said. “Most of the length of the asphalt is on privately owned land.”
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