JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Due to its one way in, one way out layout on Lannie Road, family and friends with loved ones buried at the Jacksonville National Cemetery on the Northside say getting there has often been difficult.
That could be changing as FDOT plans a $12.8 million access road project. Its purpose is making access to the cemetery easier.
The two-lane access road will connect Lannie Road to Arnold Road. Arnold Road is north of the Jacksonville International Airport and west of I-95.
“The roadway will feature bike lanes, ponds to promote drainage, a newly constructed bridge over Seaton Creek and improve transportation options for motorists seeking to access the Jacksonville National Cemetery,” FDOT said in a news release.
Gloria Horne visits her husband’s gravesite at the cemetery when she can, but July 2 is a day she circles on the calendar.
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“Today was his fourth-year anniversary, as far as his death,” Horne said. “And I came to visit with him.”
Horne tells Action News Jax reporter Ryan Nelson that visiting her husband, a Marine during the Vietnam War, brings a sense of comfort she can only find in his presence at the cemetery.
As it stands today without the access road, traveling from Arnold to Lannie by car is a 14-mile drive, and takes about 23 minutes.
When the access road is complete, the shortcut from Lannie Road to Arnold Road will stretch only 3.4 miles.
“It would be much easier to come more times, it would definitely help,” Horne said.
The roadway will be turned over to the City of Jacksonville when completed.
The project was awarded to Anderson Columbia Contractors, Inc. and is expected to be completed in fall 2021, if weather and scheduling allow.
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