PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Hundreds of people living in St. Johns County are now calling for safer intersections along State Road A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach after two crashes were reported less than two weeks apart, and less than a quarter mile apart from one another.
We first reported on January 15th when two people were hurt, one of whom was flown to the hospital, in a crash that Florida Highway Patrol said happened at the intersection of A1A and TPC Boulevard. Last Thursday night, FHP reported a deadly motorcycle crash at the intersection of A1A and Sawgrass Village Drive, right down the road.
The next morning, Hannah Sheikh, whose two sons only recently started driving, put together a petition demanding that the blinking yellow left-turn light at A1A and TPC Boulevard to be removed, believing the flashing lights to be one of the main causes of serious crashes in the area.
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“We need change immediately. We need it done yesterday,” said Sheikh, “we’re scared.”
Sheikh told us she constantly sees crashes along A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach, which the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) says sees more than 40,000 cars driving every day. She believes the blinking yellow left-turn lights are pressuring drivers into making potentially dangerous turns, especially when they can’t see the oncoming traffic.
“I do a lot of prayer. It’s created stress. It has created stress,” Sheikh said.
Other nearby neighbors have also been sharing safety concerns regarding the intersections on A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach, particularly after the two recent crashes. John Ekdahl, for one, lives in the L’Atrium neighborhood, by the Sawgrass Village Shopping Center, and told us he sees at least one crash every week at the intersection outside of his neighborhood.
“They need to turn the blinking yellow light off,” Ekdahl said, “I don’t think you should allow a left-hand turn into 45-mile-an-hour cars coming at you.”
Wendy Dittman, who lives less than 10 minutes away, in the Sawgrass neighborhood, feels like she frequently hears sirens from first responders rushing to crashes at the nearby intersections of A1A.
“The main thing is the blinking yellow light. I have witnessed people make turns, doing the left-hand turn, and narrowly miss getting hit,” said Dittman.
After hearing concerns from neighbors, we received a report put together by Peters and Yaffee, a Jacksonville-based transportation consultant, who was hired by FDOT to study the nine blinking yellow light intersections along A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach, as a way to determine whether safety improvements at the intersections were needed.
The report found there were 554 total crashes at those intersections from 2019-2024. 77 of those were from left turns, and the report said a different traffic light could have helped prevent most of those crashes.
We reached out to FDOT to ask whether it was considering making safety improvements at these intersections, based on the recent crashes. In a statement, FDOT told us this:
“The intersection at TPC Boulevard and A1A has previously been evaluated, and removing the yellow flashing signal was considered. However, the Department will review the intersection and signal sequencing for potential safety improvements. Separately and unrelated to the recent crashes, the A1A corridor at TPC Boulevard and Sawgrass Village Drive is currently undergoing a study to evaluate potential improvements, including possible intersection reconfigurations. Once the study is complete, FDOT will share potential corridor changes with the public during a public meeting, anticipated for spring 2026.”
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