If you’re planning on taking the Shands Bridge this weekend, you’ll need to find another route.
The Florida Department of Transportation says the bridge will be closed starting Friday, 1/9, at 9 pm and will reopen Monday, 1/12, by 5 am to replace the grating.
“We are constructing a brand new Shands bridge replacement,” Hampton Ray, Community Outreach Manager with FDOT, said. “However, in order to keep this bridge safe, operational, and a better ride for everybody, we will need to replace the grating this weekend.
Traffic is being rerouted to the Buckman Bridge…which is roughly 20 miles north for drivers on both sides of the river.
While FDOT says the closure of the Shands Bridge this weekend isn’t directly related to the construction of the new bridge for the First Coast Expressway project, they say it shows exactly why a new bridge is needed.
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“Without the new bridge, we would see more of these kinds of inconveniences for folks,” Ray said.
The roughly $500 million construction project to replace the over-60-year-old bridge began in 2023. It is part of the construction of the First Coast Expressway. The 46 miles of new highway will cut through Duval, Clay, and St. Johns counties.
Ray says the new bridge is needed to allow more drivers to cross over the St. Johns River.
“The new bridge will have two lanes in each direction,” Ray said. “We’re doubling the capacity of the bridge, we’re future-proofing the structure to make sure that we have accessibility to the Port of Palatka.”
Construction of the new bridge and the First Coast Expressway is expected to be completed in 2030.
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