Discover Jacksonville 2017

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Seven links to the city
There are seven vehicle bridges that cross the St. Johns River at Jacksonville — Florida’s river
city by the sea and gateway to the state’s interior. Sometimes we don’t call our bridges by
their given names, so we’ve compiled a list to help you navigate the city’s connectors.
Official name:
John T. Alsop Jr. Bridge
Type:
Steel-truss — centerlift
span
Date opened:
July 18, 1941
Cost: $1.5 million
Annual average
daily traffic: 18,300
Length: 1,700 feet
Main Street Bridge John T. Alsop Jr. earned so
much respect of the people of Jacksonville as a
multi-term mayor, the Main Street Bridge was
renamed in his honor nearly 16 years after it
opened. Alsop, who came to Florida as one of Teddy
Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, served 14 consecutive
years before leaving office in 1937 (he returned four
years later). He died at 83, about a month after the
bridge was renamed for him on April 12, 1957.
In 2014, the Florida Department of Transportation
put $11.1 million into a project to make
maintenance and safety repairs. From 2016 to 2017,
a $10.8 million project is being done to rehabilitate
the bridge, mainly for electrical and mechanical.
The bridge is considered one of the most
recognizable features in downtown Jacksonville.
Fuller Warren Bridge The latest downtown
bridge and the St. Johns River’s most
expensive, it replaced a 1954 double-leaf
bascule drawbridge that often saw long lines of
stalled traffic. Officials, including Florida Gov.
Fuller Warren, wanted to name it for J. Turner
Butler, a former Duval County attorney and
30-year member of the Florida Legislature. But
Butler thought that public structures should
not be named for living individuals, so the
span honors Fuller Warren instead. The bridge
continues to experience an increase in traffic
since it is at the merge point of Interstates
95 and 10, necessitating more interchange
improvements starting in 2017, near the same
time the I-95 Overland Bridge replacement
project is finished at the south end of the Fuller
Warren Bridge.
Official name:
Fuller Warren Bridge
Type: Pre-stressed
concrete beam
Date opened:
Nov. 17, 2002
Cost: $97.5 million
(estimated)
Annual average daily
traffic: 155,000
Length: 2,533 feet
Official name:
Henry Holland Buckman Bridge
Type: Steel multi-beam girder
Date opened: May 1, 1970;
expansion opened January 1997
Cost: $12.5 million; expansion
$79 million
Annual average daily
traffic: 131,000
Length: 16,300 feet
Buckman Bridge While this bridge was in the
planning stage, former U.S. Rep. Charles E. Bennett
suggested it be named for Henry Holland Buckman,
who had been a prominent legislator instrumental
in establishing a state road system and developing
the St. Johns River channel. In 1905, he authored
the Buckman Act, which laid the foundation
for higher education in Florida. The expansion
project, necessary because average daily traffic
use increased nearly 11-fold in 20 years, added
two travel lanes and two safety lanes to each of the
twin spans. A protection and rehabilitation project
was completed in 2016, primarily underneath the
bridge.
16 | 2017 DISCOVER JACKSONVILLE