Construction continues at Deerwood Park and Southside Boulevard. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on May 4, 2026 at 3:15 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Q: Road projects are sometimes moving forward even if you can’t see it.
That might be the case with a project on Southside and Deerwood Park boulevards
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The $29.8 million project includes nearly 5 miles of resurfacing on Southside Boulevard, intersection and safety improvements at Southside and Deerwood Park boulevards, drainage improvements, sidewalk installation, signage enhancements and lighting improvements.
Jacksonville Today reader Lois B. wonders what’s taking so long. And she’s wondered that for a while.
Last year, Lois asked Jacksonville Today about what she considered the slow pace of work on the project. Florida Department of Transportation spokesperson Hampton Ray said at the time that much of the work was being done when most folks were asleep — between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
FDOT said the project should be done this spring.
Lois isn’t satisfied by what she’s seeing. The work does not appear much closer to completion, she says.
“There has been VERY little progress on the highway construction,” she writes. “I seldom see anyone working there, and we drive by here several times each week.”
“Can someone please get an update?”
A: FDOT Community Outreach Specialist Jacob Pickering says the project is now estimated to be finished later this year — within the time frame required in the vendor’s contract.
Cconstruction activity may appear limited at times, he says, but work is continuing.
“Over the past several weeks, contract work has largely focused on lighting and underground utilities, which are not always noticeable from the road,” Pickering says. “Additionally, crews have been performing nighttime milling and paving of the Southside Service Road, traffic signal loop installations, and related subsurface work.”
The paving work has to be done before more visible intersection improvements, Pickering says. Contractors also have been removing foliage along portions of Southside Boulevard near Deerwood Park Boulevard to prepare it for the next phase of construction, he says.
When the foundation work is completed, “drivers should expect to see more noticeable progress,” including at the intersection itself, Pickering says.
