Relief is on the way for motorists who must regularly cope with congestion along County Road 210 between Interstate 95 and U.S. 1.
County officials and staff gathered Tuesday at the intersection of Badger Park Drive and C.R. 210 in St. Johns to ceremonially break ground on a project to widen a segment of that road from two to six lanes.
“The community has been looking forward to this project for quite some time,” said Greg Caldwell, St. Johns County Public Works director.
County Commissioner Henry Dean called it “one of the more exciting projects” with which he has been involved during the time he has served on the board.
“It’s going to do so much for the residents that are along this path,” he said. “We added a new high school, of course, in the last year or so, and it increased the level of traffic even more. So, this couldn’t come at a better time. It’s absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t be happier.”
He noted that, as the commissioner representing that area of the county, he receives many calls from people concerning the traffic congestion there.
The project, budgeted at $12.8 million, according to the county’s Capital Improvement Plans dashboard, will add four lanes of traffic for the seven-tenths of a mile between Trinity Way and Beachwalk Boulevard, as well as sidewalks on both sides. It will improve traffic flow just west of the Twin Creeks Planned Unit Development.
In addition, a traffic signal will be installed at the intersection of C.R. 210 and Badger Park Drive. That will likely benefit the businesses located there, as well as their customers.
Dean noted that the county has about 35 capital improvement projects for roads currently underway with a total budget of approximately $183 million. That includes widening portions of C.R. 210 west of I-95, modifications to County Road 2209 and four-laning Longleaf Pine Parkway.
Work on C.R. 210 east of I-95 has actually begun, and access is being improved at the intersection with Sandy Creek Parkway.
The civil engineer for the C.R. 210 widening between I-95 and U.S. 1 is Prosser Inc. of Jacksonville, and Watson Civil Construction of St. Augustine is the contractor for the project. Jacksonville-based England-Thims and Miller Inc. will conduct lead construction engineering and inspection.
The county will fund the project through impact fees, the Transportation Trust Fund and developer contributions.
Construction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2025.
To see a video overview of the project produced by the county, go to youtube.com/watch?v=TKq_PN0jHmw.
This groundbreaking follows the County Road 2209 groundbreaking that was conducted in December. To read more about that, click HERE.
