Florida State Road 202
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State Road 202 (SR 202) is a limited-access expressway that extends for about 13 miles (21 kilometers) from U.S. Highway 1 (Philips Highway), in Jacksonville, Florida to SR A1A (Third Street), in Jacksonville Beach, near the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Ponte Vedra Beach, and includes a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. To locals, the road is better known as J. Turner Butler Boulevard, Butler Boulevard, or the initialism J.T.B. It was constructed in sections by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (before 1971, the Jacksonville Expressway Authority). The first section opened in 1979; the last section (the SR A1A interchange in Jacksonville Beach) opened in 1997.[citation needed]
The expressway is named for James Turner Butler, a well known Jacksonville attorney and Florida legislator who was instrumental in advancing various transportation projects in the Jacksonville region and the establishment of the Jacksonville Expressway Authority. Initially, when J.T.B. opened, it was described by locals as "the road to nowhere". Nowadays—with the increased growth on Jacksonville's Southside as well as at the beaches and in St. Johns County, which has been catalyzed partly by the road's presence—Butler Boulevard's utility is less questionable. SR 202 now intersects one, but will intersect two, Interstate highways: I-95 and the I-295 loop around Jacksonville (currently signed as SR 9A at the intersection).
In the summer of 2005, construction of a massive, $80,000,000 "mixing bowl" interchange began at the intersection of J.T.B. and SR 9A. When completed, in 2009, the entire SR 9A–I-295 loop around Jacksonville will be signed I-295.
J.T.B. was a toll road until 1988, when the JTA removed all the toll-collection facilities in Jacksonville. Because of the heavy traffic on J.T.B. and projected continued growth in the Jacksonville area, the Florida Department of Transportation, in the early 2000s, conducted a study on making long-term improvements to J.T.B. The results of the study recommended widening the road and creating "inside" express lanes with limited on and off points along the route, surrounded by additional "outside" local lanes, albeit at a considerable cost.
Florida State Roads | ||
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Preceded by 200 |
State Road 202 | Succeeded by 206 |