CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Some people who live and drive through certain parts of Clay County are frustrated with construction happening near County Road 220.
They say it is leading to traffic headaches. But county officials say the work is crucial and people will be safer because of it.
One project in particular is getting a lot of attention on County Road 220 near Knight Boxx Road.
A brand-new bridge is being installed to replace an old one that is deteriorating.
Due to the work being done, drivers are forced to take a detour that can end up causing them to drive much longer than they expected.
The county’s director of engineering says all the construction is being done to prevent a catastrophe.
The old bridge was built more than 75 years ago and is now being replaced with a four-lane bridge.
Timothy Gaston lives nearby and says the forced detour to get to the other side of County Road 220 is not fun to deal with during his morning and evening commute.
“Yes, [it is frustrating],” Gaston said. “The end, I hope is going to be great. But right now, for me, I work in downtown Jacksonville. Instead of it taking about 35 to 40 minutes to get there, it takes me normally about an hour at best to get there. All of the traffic is starting to funnel on this road. If you are trying to go to Blanding Boulevard, you are kind of restricted to one lane. You have to turn right. If you make a left, on County Road 220, you have the school traffic. There are a lot of stops there. You were going to be in the same situation.”
Many people on social media joined Gaston by expressing how they feel about the inconvenience. The construction started in late January from Knight Boxx Road to Chief Ridaught Trail.
Richard Smith, Clay County’s director of engineering, said the old bridge was dangerous to travel on as more than 30,000 cars drive on that stretch of road daily.
“It is an accident waiting to happen so to speak,” Smith said. “It’s just when will it finally fail?”
“I am glad to hear that it started,” Gaston said of the road work. “However, we need another way to get around the traffic. Before the construction, there was already a lot of traffic. Since this happened, it added about 20 to 30 minutes to my commute.”
Gaston hopes things can improve over time. Smith understands but says the work is benefitting everyone, including Gaston.
“Be patient,” Smith said. “It is not worth the $164 U-Turn ticket. It is not worth the other issues that you’re going to get into. You will be a lot better here in about 18 months.”
“I hope that we don’t have as much traffic because it was already a busy area,” Gaston said. “With thousands of homes going up in the area, I think that it just made it worse. We built faster than we considered the roads.”
It is worth mentioning that the bridge replacement is not the only construction happening in that area.
A separate project started in the middle of December 2024.
The county is expanding a different portion of County Road 220 to four lanes from near Henley Road to Hollars Place.
Smith said the expectation is for both projects to be done by the middle of 2026.
There are a few other projects happening in Middleburg, Lakeside and Asbury Lake. People who live in Clay County can keep track of those projects through this website: https://www.claycountygov.com/government/engineering/road-projects.
