State Road 202 (SR 202) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

that extends from U.S. Route 1 (US 1;

Philips Highway U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River into Georgia north of Boulogne and south of Folkston. US 1 was designated through Florida when the U.S. Numbere ...

), in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to SR A1A (Third Street), in

Jacksonville Beach Jacksonville Beach is a coastal resort city in Duval County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated on May 22, 1907, as Pablo Beach, and would later change its name to Jacksonville Beach in 1925. The city is part of group of communities col ...

, near the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, just north of

Ponte Vedra Beach Ponte Vedra Beach is a wealthy unincorporated seaside community and suburb of Jacksonville, Florida in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located southeast of downtown Jacksonville and north of St. Augustine, it is part of the Jackso ...

, and includes a bridge over the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following th ...

. To locals, the road is better known as J. Turner Butler Boulevard, Butler Boulevard, or JTB. Except for a section from US 1 to Interstate 95 (I-95), it is a completely limited-access

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

. It was constructed in sections by the

Jacksonville Transportation Authority The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is the independent agency responsible for public transit in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and roadway infrastructure that connects northeast Florida. However, they do not maintain any roadways. ...

(before 1971, the

Jacksonville Expressway Authority The Jacksonville Expressway Authority was an independent entity established by the Florida Legislature in 1955. They owned and maintained roads and bridges in Duval County, including several toll bridges, mostly across the St. Johns River. In 1971 ...

). The first section opened in 1979, but the entire road was not completed until 1997.

Route description

SR 202 begins at US 1 (Philips Highway) and starts its run east as a divided, six lane surface street, going east towards

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

and becoming a freeway, passing through mostly marshland as it heads east towards exits including SR 115 (Southside Boulevard) and

I-295 Interstate 295 is the designation for several Interstate Highways in the United States: *Interstate 295 (Delaware–Pennsylvania), a bypass of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *Interstate 295 (Florida), a beltway around central Jacksonville *Interstate 29 ...

(East beltway), before ending at SR A1A, just west of the Atlantic coastline.

Points of interest

St. Johns Town Center The St. Johns Town Center is an upscale super-regional open-air mall in southeast Jacksonville, Florida. It opened its doors on March 18, 2005 with over 167 stores, many of which were new to the Jacksonville market at the time. The mall is locate ...

, a super-regional shopping mall is located near the I-295 intersection, as is the

University of North Florida The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public research university in Jacksonville, Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Sch ...

. Further east,

Mayo Clinic Florida Mayo Clinic Florida is a comprehensive medical center belonging to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. It is one of three Mayo campuses along with Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona and Rochester, Minnesota. Mayo's campus is situated on 400 acre ...

is located near the intersection with San Pablo Road.

History

The expressway is named for J. Turner Butler, a well-known Jacksonville attorney and Florida legislator who was instrumental in advancing various transportation projects in the region and the establishment of the Jacksonville Expressway Authority. J.T.B. was a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

until 1988 when the JTA removed all the toll-collection facilities in Jacksonville. When J.T.B. initially opened, it was described by locals as "the road to nowhere". The moniker has diminished over the years as increased growth in Jacksonville's

Southside Southside or South Side may refer to: Places Australia * Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region Canada * South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of New ...

area, as well as at the beaches in St. Johns County, has transformed the road into a major commuter route. Because of the heavy traffic on J.T.B. and projected continued growth in the Jacksonville area, the

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of t ...

, in the early 2000s, conducted a study on making long-term improvements to J.T.B. The study results recommended widening the road and designating "inside" express lanes with limited on and off points along the route, surrounded by additional "outside" local lanes, albeit at a considerable cost. While this was not implemented, most of the highway between I-95 and the

was widened to three to five lanes in each direction in the early-to-mid 2000s. The Arthur Sollee bridge spans the Intracoastal Waterway and is known by locals as the "Whubba Whubba" bridge, due to defects in construction that make for an amusing bouncy ride on the eastbound side of the roadway. Between the summer of 2005 and December 24, 2008, an $80 million freeway-to-freeway turbine interchange was constructed at the interchange of J.T.B. and I-295, with the final piece to open being a

flyover ramp An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

from J.T.B. east to I-295 north. Until late 2017, access to J.T.B eastbound from I-95 southbound was handled through a traffic-signaled intersection that was located near the highway's western end. This configuration created significant congestion during rush-hours, causing traffic to back-up onto I-95. To alleviate this situation, a flyover was constructed during the mid-2010s from I-95 southbound to J.T.B eastbound, along with other improvements to the I-95/J.T.B/Belfort Road/Salisbury Road interchanges. Under this new configuration, the signaled intersection remained in place but is now only used to provide access from I-95 to the Belfort/Salisbury/Southpoint commercial area since the new flyover merges into J.T.B eastbound past the existing off-ramps in the Belfort/Salisbury interchange.

Improvements

As of 2020, the FDOT is constructing capacity improvements to the perennially-congested Gate Parkway interchange (which provides access to St. Johns Town Center). The FDOT is also proposing upgrading the San Pablo Road interchange to a

diverging diamond interchange A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a subset of diamond interchange in which the opposing directions of travel on the non-freeway road cross each other on either side of the inte ...

(with

right-in/right-out Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. "Right-in" and "left-in" r ...

access to Mayo Clinic).http://nflroads.com/ProjectFiles/5235/Final%20Public%20Hearing%20Graphic%20Board%20010419.pdf In the future, the traffic light for eastbound J.T.B traffic headed to northbound Kernan Blvd. is excepted to be replaced with a loop ramp to be built in the southeast quadrant of the interchange.

Exit list

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:202 202 202 202 Former toll roads in Florida Expressways in Duval County, Florida