Call Box: Roosevelt repaving has the green light

Dear Call Box: On Roosevelt Boulevard between Timuquana Road and Ortega Forest Drive, the repaving crew has disappeared but left the access points unpaved, thereby creating a very rough egress to and from the road. Their paving machinery is gone. Is the job finished in their minds?

D.B.

Dear D.B.: No, its not, and youre not the only one wondering if work had stopped. The Florida Department of Transportations project manager also received calls from motorists asking about the repaving, said Ron Tittle, DOT spokesman.

What happened is that the DOT provides a certain amount of weather and holiday travel days for construction projects, Tittle said. Asphalt application is hindered by rain and cooler weather, especially when the temperature drops below 40 degrees, he said. In addition, the DOT tries to minimize impact to traffic during the busy holiday season by limiting roadway work and lane closures, Tittle said.

Since your inquiry, message boards have been put up stating traffic pattern changes that will begin Monday. Some basic preliminary work also was done this past week to prep the area. Some of the paving equipment is in place and parked on the grassy area at the northern end of the project, near Woodmere Street, Tittle said. There will be some lane closures for updating traffic signals and work on guardrails, weather permitting.

Dear Call Box: Theres a tiny little building at the Duval/St. Johns county line on U.S. 1. There are police cars from Duval County at that building, and sometimes there are even ones from St. Johns County there, and Im just curious as to whats going on. If you head south, its on the left-hand side just to the county line at Race Track Road.

J.S.

Dear J.S. There are several buildings in the area you describe. The Florida Forest Service has a white trailer that is used as an office for two firefighters stationed on the site, said Annaleasa Winter, wildfire mitigation specialist for the forest service. Behind that is a long-closed barbecue restaurant painted red. In addition, she said, the forestry service has a cream-colored building that it formerly used as an office.

As you note, there were a couple of police cars parked in the enclosed area when we drove by, but their presence there is benign. Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman with the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, said the forestry service allows some of the deputies to park their agency vehicles there if they live too far from the required limits to take them to their homes.

The same is true for Duval County.

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Call Box: Roosevelt repaving has the green light