NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. — A Neptune Beach golf cart crash is putting pressure on safety improvements. The July 1 crash on Kings Road and Florida Boulevard sent a father and his two young children to the hospital.
Beach cities have been pushing for traffic changes in the area since 2019.
After years of study, public meetings, and design revisions, engineers want to put a roundabout at the intersection.
It’s part of the Penman Road project that’s getting pushback from many people who live here.
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Kids can ride their bikes to school, and golf carts carry groceries.
It’s why the Swain family settled in this Neptune Beach neighborhood.
“Oh, we love it. It’s like an 80s neighborhood, old school, good vibes, yeah,” said Matt Swain.
A golf cart crash on Kings Road and Florida Boulevard last week sent a family to the hospital, highlighting the need for change.
“He lets us like go down there over there across the street. We don’t see any car crashes because we do lemonade stands and you don’t usually see that much golf carts,” said Levi Swain, Matt’s youngest entrepreneurial son.
The Penman Road proposal includes several major safety and traffic-flow changes between Beach Boulevard and Atlantic Boulevard.
Five roundabouts are proposed at 4th Ave. North, 8th Ave. North, 12th Ave. North and 15th Ave. North, as well as Florida Boulevard, replacing the existing five-way signal.
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Not everyone is on board.
“We need a real meeting that will fill up the library, because a lot of people don’t know this is happening,” said one resident at the Neptune Beach meeting in February.
Neptune Beach City Council chambers were packed when engineers presented their findings to the public in February.
“We were told there were other options that they had, but we have never seen any of those options,” said another concerned resident.
The plan would also add 20 pedestrian crossings and create a shared-use multipurpose path on the east side of Penman Road.
“We created a wonderful off-the-road multiuse walkway. And now we’re going to have to go through a roundabout with a bunch of cars. There’s certainly a different way of doing it,” said another resident.
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Engineers are still refining plans and gathering public input before the project can be put out to bid.
If the timeline holds, construction is expected to start in January 2027 and finish in late 2028.
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