Florida State Road 115

History

SR 115 was built in separately named segments by the Jacksonville Expressway Authority. The land for the southern section, south of Beach Boulevard, was donated by Jacksonville's Skinner family. Three siblings – Bryant, Dottie and Richard Jr. – inherited thousands of acres in southeast Duval County and needed roads through the area to access their property and facilitate development. The construction of Southside Boulevard was key to the growth of the south side of Jacksonville.

Route description

Southern segment

SR 115 runs north as Southside Boulevard from its terminus at US 1, providing access to The Avenues. Right afterwards, the road goes through the largely residential and commercial south side of Jacksonville with crossings at Baymeadows Road (SR 152), Butler Boulevard (SR 202), Beach Boulevard (US 90), and Atlantic Boulevard (SR 10). At the Southside Connector (SR 113), SR 115 turns sharply to become the Arlington Expressway, heading west into downtown via the Mathews Bridge, where it turns north, becoming the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway (former Haines Street Expressway), and again turning to the west along with the MLK Parkway (now the former 20th Street Expressway), before reaching I-95. The portion of the MLK Parkway is signed only as US 1 Alt. and US 1, not SR 115.

The southern segment serves primarily as a conduit between the residential neighborhoods of Southside and the commercialized areas farther north and downtown. Heavy traffic is commonplace along most of the road. To improve traffic flow, especially during rush-hours, in 2023 the FDOT installed Florida's first double median U-turn intersection at the interchange with Beach Blvd. (US 90). In 2024 it also completed a major redesign of the intersection just north of the cloverleaf interchange with SR 202 (Butler Boulevard expressway) and in the same year began reconstructing the intersection just south of the interchange. The new intersections' designs replace some of the left turn movements with Michigan left turns in order to reduce the number of traffic light phases.

Northern segment

Approximately two miles of SR 115 run unsigned along I-95. The second section of signed road runs from the junction of I-95 and Norwood Avenue (SR 117) through northwest Jacksonville, passing through the Lake Forest section of the city before crossing a bridge over the Ribault River, where it enters Riverview and then crosses another bridge over the Trout River into the eastern edge of the College Park neighborhood, before entering the Garden City neighborhood at the intersection with Florida State Road 104. FL 115 continues through Garden City, until the interchange with I-295 and runs between the Forest Trails and the territory near the Jacksonville International Airport before crossing a bridge over the Thomas Creek where it crosses the Duval-Nassau County Line, and ending at New Kings Rd (US 1/US 23) in Callahan.

The northern segment has the same function as the southern, except that it is built to lower standards and carries traffic south from the densely populated areas northwest of downtown into the heart of the city. Northbound, it is also an alternative to US 1/US 23 as a route to Callahan.

Exit list

Related Routes

State Road 115A

Two unsigned sections of State Road 115A (SR 115A) exist in close proximity to each other east of Downtown Jacksonville. One is the approximately 500 ft stub of MLK Parkway south of SR 115; the other carries US 1 Alt. for 1.254 mi between the Hart Bridge (SR 228) and MLK Parkway (SR 115). Some sources (including FDOT's straight line diagrams) indicate a third SR 115A on the ramps connecting SR 115 to I-95 at exit 340.

State Road 115F

Space reserved for 115F entry --

State Road 1151

State Road 1151 is the unsigned designation for Haines Street, a one way northbound frontage road, running to the east of US 1 Alt/SR 115 in Jacksonville opposite SR 1153. The road is 0.503 mi long and runs from Winthrop Street near Glen Myra Park to the MLK Parkway underpass. From there it continues west as East 17th Street. At no point is the road contiguous with SR 115 or any other state highway.

State Road 1153

State Road 1153 is the unsigned designation for Haines Street, a one way southbound frontage road, running to the west of US 1 Alt./SR 115 in Jacksonville opposite SR 1151. The road is 0.620 mi long and runs from East 15th Street to East 8th Street. The MLK Parkway exit for 8th Street and the Jaxport Talleyrand Terminal uses SR 1153 as access.

State Road 1155

State Road 1155 is the unsigned designation for Eve Drive and Patton Road in Jacksonville. It runs for 0.224 mi connecting Beach Boulevard (US 90/SR 212) with Southside Service Road (SR 115F north).

References

References

1. Patton, Charlie: [http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022103/pat_11808041.shtml "Picture this: Deerwood, deserted"] Florida Times-Union, February 21, 2003
2. Patton, Charlie: [http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/112300/met_4698168.html "Piney Woods Miracle"] Florida Times-Union, November 23, 2000
3. "The First Double Median U-Turn Intersection (MUT) in Florida".
4. "Project Details".
5. "Project Details".
6. [http://www2.dot.state.fl.us/Straight-linesOnlineGIS/ FDOT straight line diagrams] {{webarchive. link. (March 6, 2014 , accessed March 2014)
7. [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/gis/road.shtm FDOT GIS data] {{webarchive. link. (2008-12-11 , accessed January 2014)
8. Transportation Data and Analytics Office. "Straight Line Diagram of Inventory: 110351". Florida Department of Transportation.
9. Transportation Data and Analytics Office. "Straight Line Diagram of Inventory: 110355". Florida Department of Transportation.
10. Transportation Data and Analytics Office. "Straight Line Diagram of Inventory: 110357". Florida Department of Transportation.