‘It’s going to be a big mess,’ St. Augustine homeowners respond to downtown intersection project

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — Tonight, FDOT held its first public meeting presenting a new concept for an $8.2 million downtown intersection project. The first rendering brings four new traffic lights and a completely new traffic pattern where the west end of the Bridge of Lions meets State Road A1A.

It’s a proposal some homeowners like Allan Bishop still can’t wrap their heads around.

“This is a boondoggle waiting to happen,” Bishop says.

Action News Jax has been following the proposal since FDOT first introduced it last month. Since that time, and during tonight’s presentation, it’s received a number of traffic concerns from people living in the area.

Some, like Bishop, think $8.2 million is too much money to put toward changing a traffic pattern.

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“To spend millions of dollars to insignificantly increase, if at all increase, the traffic flow is a total waste of money,” says Bishop, “it’s going to create accidents.”

FDOT says the changes are meant to reduce congestion around the bridge and time spent at stop lights. Officials with the department say it could clear traffic buildups coming off the Bridge of Lions in ‘minutes.’

“That’s the idea behind this, to get more people through and out of the area,” says Samanatha Rambeau, a community outreach specialist with FDOT.

FDOT says the new intersection is meant to help commuters driving through the area each day as more families move into St. Augustine.

“Traffic is only going to get worse in the area as people move in,” Rambeau says.

But some, like Bishop, say a change in people doesn’t have to mean a change in the pavement.

“Sometimes no change is better than change that creates serious issues,” Bishop says.

FDOT says the first concept of the new intersection isn’t final and is using tonight’s meeting to get feedback. With suggestions from the community, FDOT says it will make a design hopefully agreeable to those living in the area.

Construction is set to start sometime between 2027 and 2028, expected to last about a year and a half.

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