Traffic shift expected this weekend on the East Beltway north

Jacksonville, FL — Be prepared for a possible change on your drive to work or school through the southside on the East Beltway north Monday morning. The Florida Department of Transportation says they are planning to shift traffic to the right, past Gate Parkway under the new ramp to JTB, if the weather cooperates Sunday. FDOT says once the shift is in place, that will be the same road you’ll drive on once construction of the new tolled express lanes on the East Beltway from JTB to State Road 9B is complete.

“That is a major milestone that were gonna see, probably this weekend.” Hampton Ray with FDOT says.

FDOT says once construction is done, there will be two new lanes for both directions of the East Beltway from JTB to 9B and electronic tolling systems among other things. FDOT tells us the contractor is making progress with the project and there are several items that need to be done before  the project is complete. They say concrete work still needs to be done across the entire section of the interstate, interchange work and bridge expansion at Gate Parkway and Baymeadows Road still needs to be completed,  and intersection work at JTB and Gate Parkway and at JTB and Kernan Boulevard needs to be finished.

FDOT says construction on the East Beltway is expected to be done by this summer.