Atlantic Boulevard is a highway in Duval County, Florida, that forms the easternmost portion of State Road 10 (SR 10) and is also part of U.S. Route 90 (US 90). Atlantic Boulevard connects the mainland portion of the city of Jacksonville with the Jacksonville Beaches on a barrier island to the east. Its western terminus is at San Marco Square in the San Marco neighborhood, at an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with the northern terminus of Balis Place, where the roadway continues as San Marco Boulevard; it travels to the east to the Atlantic Ocean at the Jacksonville Beaches, forming the city line between

Atlantic Beach Atlantic Beach is the name of some places in the United States: *Atlantic Beach, Florida, a city *Atlantic Beach, New York, a village *Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, a town *Atlantic Beach, South Carolina Atlantic Beach is a town in Horry County, ...

on its north side and

Neptune Beach Neptune Beach is a beachfront city east of Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida, United States. When the majority of Duval County communities consolidated with Jacksonville in 1968, Neptune Beach, along with Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach ...

on its south side. Its eastern terminus is just to the east of a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

with the northern terminus of Midway Street on the city line.

History

Atlantic Boulevard was first planned circa 1890 by Eugene F. Gilbert, a jeweler from Connecticut who had purchased oceanfront property and envisioned a wagon road between the former city of South Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Beaches. Gilbert paid for land surveys and eventually convinced the Duval County Commission to use convict labor to start building the road, but a new set of

county commission A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...

ers terminated the effort when the project was about two-thirds complete.Bill Foley
A 'typical Yankee' is to thank for road
''

Florida Times Union ''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when th ...

'', 20 August 1997 The editor of the Jacksonville ''Evening Telegram'' published that it was hoped the county commissioners would improve the road and not leave it merely as an opening cut through the woods.T. Frederick Davis, ''History of Jacksonville, Florida and vicinity, 1513 to 1924'', Florida Historical Society, 1925.http://ufdc.ufl.edu/NF00000013/00001/Retrieved 2011-12-23 The road was eventually completed in 1910, after the arrival of the automobile. It was Florida's first modern "improved" highway and is considered to have been the beginning of the state's highway system. Its dedication on July 28, 1910, was celebrated with

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

s and

auto race Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

s.Bill Foley
Atlantic, Girvin met on road in 1910
''

'', 25 July 1998 The original road was wide, which was soon criticized as being too narrow for the large amount of traffic that the popular road carried between the mainland and the beach.Charles E. Foote
Road Improvement in the Far South
''The Horseless Age'' 35(9), pages 351-352. March 10, 1915. Road surfacing materials used on different sections of the boulevard included shell, concrete, asphalt macadam, and

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

laid over a base of sandy soil. The brick sections rapidly became rough and wavy as heavy traffic caused shifting of the bricks and the underlying sand. Just five years after completion of the boulevard, the brick sections were expected to require resurfacing with a more durable material such as concrete. In 2001, the road is now a six-lane divided highway for most of its length, and the bridges on it were rebuilt. In 2008, traffic counts at locations along Atlantic Boulevard ranged from 26,000 to 61,000 vehicles per day.Duval County State Roads Traffic Counts - 2008
North Florida Transportation Planning Organization website, accessed January 12, 2011

References

{{reflist 1910 establishments in Florida Roads in Jacksonville, Florida U.S. Route 90 Boulevards in the United States

History

See also

References