LAKE ASBURY, Fla. – It’s a traffic nightmare for hundreds, if not thousands, in the fastest-growing section of Clay County: Lake Asbury.
For more than a year residents have been plagued by non-stop road construction on the only roads that serve numerous large subdivisions. And they say it’s only gotten worse.
“Hell. It is hell!”
“A cluster mess!!”
“Worse than ever.”
“30-40 minutes, every day, to drive 5 miles from Sandridge to 17!”
These are just a few of the responses when News4JAX asked residents in the News4ClayCounty Facebook group what they think of all this construction in Lake Asbury.
“It’s not good. It was the biggest detractor from moving into this neighborhood,” said Scott Floyd who still decided to move into a Lake Asbury neighborhood a couple of months ago.
The road exiting his subdivision has a flagger and one of the two available lanes is often shut down for construction crews.
“It’s been horrible,” he said.
Other residents agree.
“It’s just the worst. It’s literally the worst. I’m always stuck. I have to leave an hour and a half before work because of this,” said Ryann Tisdale.
The road many residents lament is Sandridge Road which cuts through the heart of Lake Asbury. There are also complaints over the county closing part of County Road 209 nearby that goes into Green Cove Springs.
Here is a long and detailed statement from Clay County on the project:
“We appreciate our community’s patience as we work to complete these projects as quickly as possible. County Road 209 is one of several ongoing road projects throughout the county that are aimed to improve our roads, alleviate congestion, make them safer, and prepare for the growth we are experiencing daily. As with all of our projects, we continue to monitor the traffic and will make any necessary changes. We’ve already made some changes to the signals to alleviate congestion, and we will continue to monitor the traffic as this project progresses.
The road closure and detour began last week on County Road 209 at the CSX railroad tracks to adjust the road profile to accommodate wider travel lanes.
Residents will have full access to their property during the work.
This project is part of our Bonded Transportation Program, which encompasses seven major road projects, which are broken out in phases, and the dollars allocated to the program have to be spent within a certain amount of time. The program is aimed to prepare for the growth and the First Coast Expressway.
Emergency responders have full access, and staff worked closely with our responders and the school district ahead of the closure so they could plan for the changes.
Through traffic will be detoured 1.5 miles. The detour takes drivers along County Road 315 and County Road 315B back to US Highway 17. A temporary traffic signal and turn lane are in place at the intersection of County Road 315 and 315B.
Residents can get all of the latest information about these projects right on our homepage at claycountygov.com. Look for Road Projects. They can also get a newsletter every Friday about these projects.”
Road Projects | Clay County, FL (claycountygov.com)
The goal of the Sandridge Road project is to widen a 2.8-mile stretch of road from two lanes to three on Sandridge Road (CR 739B) from Henley Road to just west of CR 209.
The $31.6 million project is expected to be completed by spring of 2025, according to the county website.