Duval County

Downtown fire road closures create headache for some Jacksonville commuters

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Kenneth Simmons works for a moving company and heads to downtown Jacksonville nearly every day. Only this week, it’s taking him a little longer to make deliveries.

“You have to go all the way around to Beaver just to come up here and get fuel,” Simmons said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has closed off Union Street all the way to Laura Street after a massive fire on Saturday gutted the abandoned funeral home across the street.

City code enforcement found some safety and structural concerns with the funeral home and Monday morning Action News Jax saw contract workers near the site of the building.

Simmons said he caught some of the coverage on the news and he couldn’t believe how big the flames were on Saturday.

Related story: Traffic Alert: Union Street at Main Street will remain closed for several days

“I was thinking it was going to spill all over into 7/11 parking lot, evidently they caught it so it didn’t happen. That was a great thing because all that gas over there,” Simmons said.

Police put up orange barricades and tape to help detour commuters around the road closures. Until roads open again, drivers like Simmons will just need to be patient.

“Anytime something happens like that, that’s a nuisance coming through, because you know, work traffic in the morning and work traffic in the afternoon,” Simmons said.

JSO told Action News Jax to expect the road closure and detours to be in place for the rest of the week or longer.