City leaders wants to unite St. Augustine, West Augustine with King Street revamp

A major street in one city in St. Johns County could soon get a face-lift.

City leaders in St. Augustine are working toward revamping King Street.

Action News Jax Courtney Cole spoke to the mayor of St. Augustine to learn more about the proposal.

Mayor Nancy Shaver told Action News Jax the goal is to make King Street more bike pedestrian and driver friendly and, ultimately, to use the road to unite the communities of West Augustine and St. Augustine.

Wyatt Hart has been teaching people to brew beer and make wine on West King Street at St. Augustine Brewing Solutions, for the last four years in St. Augustine.

"We don't get much tourists. I wish we did,” Hart said.

Hart said, on average, he sees about 30 customers a day.

"We would enjoy seeing some more activity on this end of King Street,” Hart told Action News Jax.

The City of St. Augustine would, too.

That's why they're working with a consultant and FDOT on a plan to revamp it.

"King Street is really the main artery that goes through St. Augustine,” Mayor Nancy Shaver told Action News Jax.

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Besides helping boost business in West Augustine, city leaders also want to make King Street safer for bikers, pedestrians and drivers.

"For me the priority is to have this be a safe mode of transportation for people who are using this as their primary mode of getting around,” said Mayor Shaver.

Between 2012 and 2016, the City of St. Augustine had:

• 36 pedestrian-related crashes
• 70 bicycle-related crashes

That's a total of 106 pedestrian and bicycle crashes in four years.

The King Street planning would happen in three parts:

• From Palmer Street to Malaga Street
• From Malaga Street to The Plaza
• From The Plaza to the Bridge of Lions

Mayor Shaver said planning and design for the entire King Street revamp is expected to take no more than 18 months.

“We’re really hoping that it integrates … that this work pulls people together. Not only when people come to visit the city, they’ll go to West Augustine, but our city comes together with really another distinct, wonderful neighborhood,” Mayor Shaver told Action News Jax.

Hart said the area has done a complete 180 from what it used to be, but told me there's always room for improvement.

“I would appreciate any help we can get,” said Hart.

Mayor Shaver wants to make sure the community is involved in this prospective transformation of King Street.

“What’s exciting about this is— the community is going to be engaged. We’re going to see what the community would like to see on that corridor,” Mayor Shaver said. “Quite frankly, if you don’t engage the community, you’re going have a bad result at the end.”

The city will be holding four public workshops, at which  they’d like to hear your feedback.

The first one will be on January 31, 2019.

A location for the meeting has not yet been selected.

Cox Media Group