St. Johns County approves 2024 list of priority transportation projects (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Commissioners in St. Johns County recently voted to approve its 2024 list of priority projects and transmit it to the North Florida TPO for funding consideration.
The transportation projects mostly include roadwork needed for one of Florida’s fastest-growing counties.
The goal is to get the projects included the Florida Department of Transportation’s FY 2029/30 budget, as recommended by the Transportation Advisory Group.
“Our main priority is State Road 16, which we have already committed $5 million to the Florida Department of Transportation for the design work,” Assistant Director of Growth Management Dick D’Souza said in a release. “We hope by keeping this a top priority we can ensure forward progress.”
In addition to S.R. 16 improvements, other priority projects include widening and constructing additional lanes of County Road 2209, improving the intersection of International Golf Parkway and S.R. 16, the U.S. 1 intersection at Pine Island Road to Race Track Road, and widening State Road 207.
“For the second consecutive year our board has recognized S.R. 16 as our top transportation priority,” County Commissioner and North Florida TPO Chair Christian Whitehurst said.
Funding for these projects is also being requested from the state legislature. The county’s 2024 Legislative Action Plan requests $20 million to widen S.R. 16 from International Golf Parkway to Interstate 95 and $10 million to complete the new central segment of C.R. 2209. U.S. Congressman John Rutherford, has committed $4 million toward S.R. 16 widening in the FY24 budget.
Work on priority projects has already begun, including C.R. 2209, which broke ground last month.
Last year, the county received a record $59 million in state appropriations for transportation projects.