JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – Since the start of the school year, residents of the Wells Creek neighborhood have again been struggling with traffic congestion.

It is a district in the south of Duval County, near the Phillips Highway and not far from the border with St. Johns County.

News4JAX first reported on traffic problems in the area in August 2023.

But before the last school year ended, JSO officers helped the people living there with traffic control.

That was in the morning, before school started. But as soon as school was over for the summer holidays, the police officer stopped helping with traffic control.

Residents like Kristin Rispoli reported that the time it took them to leave the property decreased from 30 minutes to 10 minutes since officers began directing traffic.

In the current school year, Rispoli said, these officials were not on site and the time until they left had been extended again.

“It was just extremely stressful and overwhelming,” Rispoli said. “I’m a psychotherapist, so I have a lot of fidgets and all that stuff and I definitely used them.”

To be clear, police officers are not obligated to assist in traffic control.

MORE: FDOT is examining alternatives to relieve traffic congestion at the intersection of Race Track Road and Philips Highway

According to JSO, officers can also volunteer for the subdivision while off duty. Two officers are needed for the job. It is a volunteer position and is intended as a part-time job for officers.

Rispoli and others News4JAX spoke to off-camera said they reached out to the JSO to find out why no officers showed up at the entrance to their busy intersection during the first few days of this school year.

They spoke to officials at Substation 3 to ask what was going on.

They said they were told that other officers did not volunteer to take shifts because some of them were being harassed.

“You can’t do something like that to anyone, but you can definitely do it to a police officer,” Rispoli said. “And if people behave like that in front of police officers, you can only imagine what it’s like this morning.”

News4JAX asked the JSO to confirm whether this was communicated to residents, and an email response said in part: “I have not been able to confirm that this conversation even took place.”

Wells Creek HOA member Andrew Lisella said he hopes officials can get traffic back underway while they wait for the traffic light to be installed.

He also said he hoped residents would be patient until then.

“Be careful, stay safe, try to get going a little earlier, try to stay stable,” Lisella said.

He also said that the traffic lights are expected to be installed earlier than planned.

Last year, News4JAX noted that installation was possible in early 2025.