Roosevelt Expressway

US 17/Roosevelt Boulevard was commissioned in 1939 to serve as a highway providing a direct connection between Jacksonville and Orange Park. Prior to its construction, the route to Orange Park was made by using a combination of narrow roads along the west bank of the St. Johns River. After his death, the highway was named in honor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. Between 1957 and 1961, the first section of I-10 was built between Jacksonville and Sanderson, severing much of the street grid connectivity between Lackawanna and Murray Hill.

As a part of its construction, in 1960, a 2.5-mile stretch of US 17 was upgraded to partial freeway status between the interstate and Blanding Boulevard. Known as the Roosevelt Expressway, this segment of US 17 was designed to bypass the Riverside/Avondale Historic District and includes interchanges at Blanding Boulevard and Edgewood Avenue. For five decades, an original four-lane segment of Roosevelt Boulevard was still in place between the Edgewood Avenue interchange and College Street. In 2012, this stretch of original highway was reduced to two lanes.

Lake Forest

Situated on a peninsula bounded by the Ribault River, Trout River and Moncrief Creek, Lake Forest was a largely undeveloped community prior to World War II. Initially platted in 1926, development of the American Revolutionary War themed neighborhood resumed in 1944. By October 1947, the Jacksonville Expressway had been proposed for the east side of the peninsula. Now known as I-95, the original Jacksonville Expressway officially opened between Lake Forest and Riverside on March 26, 1960.

UF Health Jacksonville

From the late 1800s until the 1960s, Sugar Hill was the neighborhood where Jacksonville’s most prominent African-Americans lived. During the Jim Crow era, the neighborhood was black Jacksonville’s answer to Riverside and Springfield. A prestigious upscale streetcar suburb, Sugar Hill was located along Hogans Creek and Springfield Park, just west of Springfield. During the 1950s, the neighborhood found itself in the “path of progress” as city leaders selected a path for the Jacksonville Expressway (I-95) that ripped right through the heart of the African-American district. Furthermore, the growth of its medical centers have eliminated the large residences along Springfield Park and West 8th Street. In 1999, the neighborhood’s medical centers merged to be Shands Jacksonville. In 2013, the medical center was renamed UF Health Jacksonville.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Adobe Photoshop aerial overlays by Ennis Davis, AICP. 2016 aerials courtesy of Google Earth. 1943 historic aerials courtesy of the University of Florida George A. Smathers libraries Digital Collection. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com