Blanding Boulevard is one of the major linkages between the growing areas of northeastern Clay County and the greater Jacksonville area. It is a highly congested roadway, due primarily to the lack of suitable alternative routes. The street system in the study area is fragmented, lacking connectivity, forcing most commuters and commercial traffic onto Blanding Boulevard for at least a portion of their journey. Over the next ten years the reconstruction and extension of Branan Field/Chaffee Road will provide a four-lane, limited access facility with frontage roads, connecting Blanding Boulevard with Interstate 10, which will serve as a reliever to both Blanding Boulevard and Interstate 295. The success of diverting traffic to Branan Field/Chaffee Road depends largely on the provision of access from the growth corridors of US 17 and Blanding Boulevard, especially between Knight Boxx Road, Doctors Inlet Road and Kingsley Avenue.

For the last eleven years, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Clay County have been studying ways of making this connection. Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc. performed a study for FDOT that focused on the area between Old Jennings Road and Kingsley Road. Clay County performed a study that further limited the area to between Taylor Avenue and Cleveland Avenue.