ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A long-anticipated St. Johns County road-widening project is finally underway this week after years of planning.
A stretch of County Road 210 will go from two lanes to four lanes. It’s an area of Northwest St. Johns County that has seen tremendous growth in recent years.
The project aims to relieve traffic backups but people who live in the area said it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
A two-mile section of the roadway between Cimarrone Boulevard to Greenbriar Road will go from two lanes to four lanes to ease traffic problems.
“I’ve lived on here for about 10 to 15 years now, so I lived here when there was nothing on this road and now it’s so busy so it’s a lot different than what it used to be,” resident Helen Frincia said.
St. Johns County is one of the fastest-growing communities. Between 2020 and 2021 more than 16,000 people moved to the county making it fourth in the nation for fastest total population growth according to data from the U.S. Census.
Construction on the road expansion is expected to take two years to complete and county leaders believe it is worth the wait and patience from residents.
“Please be patient with us as we go through this. It will be better but there will be frustration when we get there,” St. Johns County Engineer Duane Kent said.
Some of that frustration comes from the extra overflow of traffic in the area now because of construction.
News4JAX was on County Road 210 trying to make a left turn and that alone caused a huge backup.
This is the kind of traffic that Ashley Blatchford deals with every day taking her son to school at Roots Academy. It’s inside Faith Community Church which is located in the center of the construction zone.
“It’s really irritating it takes forever and honestly the drivers are really bad they can kind of just scoot up. It’s just miserable,” Ashley Blatchford said.
Wendy Whitlow is the Director of Roots Academy and says it gets worse when the school day ends.
“The traffic is non-stop. There’s no break in the traffic between 4 to 6 p.m. it just non-stop cars,” Whitlow said.
It’s a new normal for drivers until 2024.
The project will also include a median between lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the road.
County officials say they are doing all they can to finish the project as soon as possible.
The cost of the project was not yet finalized as of last month, but Kent said it is expected to cost less than the $30 million that it is currently budgeted for.