| J. Turner Butler Boulevard | ||||
Florida State Road 202 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byFDOT | ||||
| Length | 13.042 mi[1] (20.989 km) | |||
| Existed | 1979–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end | ||||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end | ||||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
State Road 202 (SR 202) is a 13.042-mile-long (20.989 km)state highway that extends fromU.S. Route 1 (US 1;Philips Highway), inJacksonville,Florida toSR A1A (Third Street), inJacksonville Beach, near theAtlantic Ocean, just north ofPonte Vedra Beach, and includes a bridge over theIntracoastal Waterway. To locals, the road is better known asJ. Turner Butler Boulevard,Butler Boulevard, orJTB. Despite being named as a boulevard, the road is a completely limited-accessexpressway, with the exception of the westernmost 0.5 miles (800 meters) between US 1 andInterstate 95 (I-95). It was constructed in sections by theJacksonville Transportation Authority (before 1971, theJacksonville Expressway Authority). The first section opened in 1979, but the entire road was not completed until 1997.[2]
SR 202 begins atU.S. Route 1 (Philips Highway) and starts its run east as a divided, six lane surface street, going east towardsI-95 and becoming a six lane freeway. BetweenSR 115 (Southside Boulevard) and Hodges Boulevard, the freeway is seven lanes, with the westbound lanes carrying four lanes going into town, and the eastbound lanes providing three lanes going towards the beaches. The freeway passes many areas of residential development and office parks, as well as a turbine interchange withI-295 (The East Beltway) before passing through mostly marshland as it heads east towards the Intracoastal, before entering the Jacksonville area beaches and ending atSR A1A, just west of the Atlantic coastline.[3]
St. Johns Town Center, a super-regional shopping mall, is located near the I-295 intersection, as is theUniversity of North Florida. Further east,Mayo Clinic Florida is located near the interchange with San Pablo Road.[citation needed]
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The expressway is named forJ. Turner Butler, a well-known Jacksonville attorney and Florida legislator who was instrumental in advancing various transportation projects in the region and the establishment of the Jacksonville Expressway Authority. J.T.B. was atoll road until 1988 when the JTA removed all the toll-collection facilities in Jacksonville.
When J.T.B. initially opened, it was described by locals as "the road to nowhere".[4] The moniker has diminished over the years as increased growth in Jacksonville'sSouthside area, as well as atthe beaches and northeasternSt. Johns County, has transformed the road into a major commuter route. Because of the heavy traffic on J.T.B. and projected continued growth in the Jacksonville area, theFlorida Department of Transportation, in the early 2000s, conducted a study on making long-term improvements to J.T.B. The study results recommended widening the road and designating "inside"express lanes with limited on and off points along the route, surrounded by additional "outside" local lanes, albeit at a considerable cost. While this was not implemented, most of the highway between I-95 and theIntracoastal Waterway was widened to three to five lanes in each direction in the early-to-mid 2000s.
TheArthur Sollee Bridge spans the Intracoastal Waterway and is known by locals as the "Whubba Whubba" bridge, due to defects in construction that make for an amusing bouncy ride on the eastbound side of the roadway.
Between the summer of 2005 and December 24, 2008, an $80 million freeway-to-freeway turbine interchange was constructed at the interchange of J.T.B. and I-295, with the final piece to open being aflyover ramp from J.T.B. east to I-295 north.
Until late 2017, access to J.T.B. eastbound from I-95 southbound was handled through a traffic-signaled intersection that was located near the highway's western end. This configuration created significant congestion during rush-hours, causing traffic to back-up onto I-95. To alleviate this situation, a flyover was constructed during the mid-2010s from I-95 southbound to J.T.B. eastbound, along with other improvements to the I-95/J.T.B./Belfort Road/Salisbury Road interchanges. Under this new configuration, the signaled intersection remained in place but is now only used to provide access from I-95 to the Belfort/Salisbury/Southpoint commercial area since the new flyover merges into J.T.B. eastbound past the existing off-ramps in the Belfort/Salisbury interchange.
In 2022, work was completed to reconfigure the San Pablo Road interchange to adiverging diamond interchange format (withright-in/right-out access to Mayo Clinic).
In late 2022 construction began on a loop ramp in the southeast quadrant of the Kernan Blvd interchange that will replace the existing traffic light for eastbound J.T.B. traffic headed to northbound Kernan Blvd.[citation needed]
The entire route is inDuval County. All exits are unnumbered.
| Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville | 0.000 | 0.000 | At-grade intersection | ||
| 0.189 | 0.304 | Bonneval Road | At-grade intersection | ||
| 0.51 | 0.82 | I-95 exit 344; western end of freeway | |||
| 1.11 | 1.79 | No direct entrances from Salisbury Road; westbound exit hasright-in/right-out toSouthpoint; access toSt. Vincent's Medical Center Southside | |||
| 3.03 | 4.88 | Cloverleaf interchange | |||
| 4.02 | 6.47 | Gate Parkway | Access toSt. Johns Town Center | ||
| 5.22 | 8.40 | I-295 exit 53; freeway-to-freeway turbine interchange | |||
| 6.29 | 10.12 | Kernan Boulevard | |||
| 8.21 | 13.21 | Hodges Boulevard north | Southern terminus of Hodges Boulevard | ||
| 10.05 | 16.17 | Diverging diamond interchange; access toMayo Clinic Florida | |||
| | 10.358– 11.228 | 16.670– 18.070 | Pablo Creek Bridge (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway) | ||
| Jacksonville Beach | 12.65 | 20.36 | South Beach Parkway | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |
| 13.042 | 20.989 | Trumpet interchange; access toBaptist Medical Center Beaches | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||