About 20 percent of St. Johns County's workforce, or almost 39,000 people, commute daily into Duval County. And almost 15,000 a day, or about 7% of Duval County's workforce, drive the other way, JTA said. But that's just now. Population in these counties combined will grow close to 1.6 million by 2045, according to the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization’s long-range plan. Duval County alone is projected to grow to about 1.2 million. The FDOT's plans to ease predicted traffic along I-95 between the two counties is added northbound and southbound lanes on two segments. One is between Atlantic and Butler boulevards, expected to begin in 2023 to 2025 with added lanes, new bridges, drainage, signs, pedestrian overpasses and lighting. Then the FDOT plans to widen I- 95 from International Golf Parkway to Interstate 295. Driverless JTA : $49 million contract signed for Jacksonville's first autonomous vehicle service on Bay Street Data from the FDOT shows the level of service on that stretch of I-95 already ranges from very heavy to sometimes stalled. The I-95 construction over the next decade will use the last bit of right-of-way, JTA said. So establishing a commuter rail line between the downtowns of Jacksonville and St. Augustine, with a few stops in between, could help lessen roadway congestion, the JTA said. "There is no future way to expand those roads anymore, so just like they did, we took a look at the data," Clark said. "... The data, as everybody knows, shows all of the growth is happening south and east, and it continues to push south and east." The proposal under study The JTA calls the commuter rail "an ideal mobility enhancement," the average rail commute time comparable to driving: an estimated 48 minutes from downtown Jacksonville to St. Augustine, trains running from 5 a.m. to just before 10 p.m. daily. The commuter trains would run along Florida East Coast's freight line right of way just west of U.S. 1. Another private company called Brightline, which operates inter-
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