First Coast Expressway

[kevinb1994]

www.firstcoastexpressway.com

www.firstcoastexpressway.com/schedule.shtml

www.firstcoastexpressway.com/faqs.shtml

www.firstcoastexpressway.com/about-the-project.shtml

It'll start collecting tolls early next year, technically starting on or about January 12. I can't say I am surprised nor pleased with the project delays by FDOT and FTE.

[Beltway]

Any future plans to extend FCW north of I-10 to I-95 north of the city?

[kevinb1994]

Any future plans to extend FCW north of I-10 to I-95 north of the city?

Yes it has been talked about but not much about it I have heard or read about.

[1995hoo]

I noted the speed limit is posted at 60 for most of the road's length, but there are 70-mph signs installed and turned at an angle so they aren't facing traffic. Be interesting to hear whether the speed limit increase coincides with the start of tolling. (We went 70 mph, didn't pass anyone, got passed by several people, and didn't see any cops.)

[kevinb1994]

I noted the speed limit is posted at 60 for most of the road's length, but there are 70-mph signs installed and turned at an angle so they aren't facing traffic. Be interesting to hear whether the speed limit increase coincides with the start of tolling. (We went 70 mph, didn't pass anyone, got passed by several people, and didn't see any cops.)

Either that, or they'll wait until more segments of the toll road are open to the paying public (although that may be rather unlikely due to the delay in opening and tolling the initial segments).

[1995hoo]

Earlier today we visited our friend who lives at Lake Asbury. She had very mixed feelings about the new road, noting it's nice to bypass Blanding Boulevard but expressing concern for how much development it'll bring. She's also very concerned about the bridge, as noted further up the thread–she said everyone is unhappy about the idea of paying a toll to cross the river. She said the new bridge is to be higher above the river than the current one so as to allow more boats to pass, so I can't imagine the current bridge wouldn't be demolished at least in part (perhaps leave the ends as fishing piers).

We used the road again leaving her place (this time I went up to US-90 to clinch it) and the 70-mph speed limit was in effect for a part of the route. The 60-mph limit applied in a "work zone"  where there were no signs of any work.

[edwaleni]

As for the new Shands Bridge...

per the Florida Times-Union:

FDOT announced that motorists living near the Shands Bridge in Clay County would not have to pay a toll to get over the St. Johns River, provided they get on the Beltway right before the bridge and get off at the first exit after.

No new updates on any plans to extend it north of US-90 (Beaver Street)

[The Ghostbuster]

It will probably never go north of US 90. Not unless they want it to reconnect it to Interstate 95 on the north end. That doesn't seem likely to me, but stranger things have happened.

[edwaleni]

It will probably never go north of US 90. Not unless they want it to reconnect it to Interstate 95 on the north end. That doesn't seem likely to me, but stranger things have happened.

Nassau County would absolutely love to see it come north and connect with I-95 at Yulee. But it would have to reconcile with long planned updates to US-301 and besides Whitehouse Field (Navy) is in the way.

If it does, it will most likely be a tollroad, just as the other end of FL-23 will be.

Honestly, I think they want to get it finished to I-95 in St John's County and then re-evaluate it. That pretty much pushes any ideas out to 2024-2025.

[kevinb1994]

It will probably never go north of US 90. Not unless they want it to reconnect it to Interstate 95 on the north end. That doesn't seem likely to me, but stranger things have happened.

Nassau County would absolutely love to see it come north and connect with I-95 at Yulee. But it would have to reconcile with long planned updates to US-301 and besides Whitehouse Field (Navy) is in the way.

If it does, it will most likely be a tollroad, just as the other end of FL-23 will be.

Honestly, I think they want to get it finished to I-95 in St John's County and then re-evaluate it. That pretty much pushes any ideas out to 2024-2025.

By that point we may no longer be in the area.

[kevinb1994]

https://www.news4jax.com/traffic/fdot-hosts-open-house-to-preview-next-phase-of-first-coast-expressway

[kevinb1994]

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/fdot-tolls-for-first-coast-expressway-i-295-express-lanes-projects-to-take-effect-in-the-spring/77-7b686d44-4804-46fe-a3d3-45f440858039

[02 Park Ave]

It has been a while now, but has the tolling of the First Coast Expressway started yet?

[The Ghostbuster]

Would it be possible to try to reconnect the First Coast Expressway to Interstate 95 on the north end, or is there too much development in the way for such to become reality?

[02 Park Ave]

It has been a while now, but has the tolling of the First Coast Expressway started yet?

To answer my own question, as of last Wednesday ( 15 May ) tolls were not being collected.

[edwaleni]

Would it be possible to try to reconnect the First Coast Expressway to Interstate 95 on the north end, or is there too much development in the way for such to become reality?

As noted earlier, it has been discussed and Nassau County would love to get connected to Cecil Commerce, but at the moment FDOT is focused on US-301 upgrades and finishing the FCE to St Johns County.

FDOT planners would have to reconcile how it would route around Whitehouse as well.

[edwaleni]

I took the time to survey the First Coast Expressway Extension (Phase 2) into Clay County Florida. (FL-23)

I was not able to stop and take pictures unfortunately.

While you will not see any signs of work at the terminus of FL-23 and Blanding Boulvard in Middleburg, there is plenty of work going on.

At Hanley Road the overpass is approximately 40% complete.  Looking west from Hanley you can see the construction of the Black Creek Bridge is well underway. The formed pylons are standing on the east bank of the creek and work continues on the west bank.

Land grading from Hanley Road east and south to Sandridge Road is still in progress.  The Sandridge Road overpass looks about 30% complete and they have the fill and tiles in on the north side of the road. It is very compact and when the trees grow back, it will be somewhat hidden from view. There is a housing tract to the west of the ROW, so i would assume a large sound barrier will go up just south of the overpass.

The next checkpoint was at FL-16 between Penney Farms and Green Cove Springs.

Here the overpass is much farther along. FL-16 is redirected to a shoofly and while the fill and tile sides are done, they are still pouring the center pylon for the expressway beams. The grading for the exit ramps is complete and you can see the grading is finished and the lighting installed all the way back toward Green Cove.

The next checkpoint was at Oakridge Avenue south of Green Cove. The overpass is again about 30-40% complete. No ramps here. The grading east of Oakridge was still quite primitive. Forest has been cut, but no semblance of roadway base yet.

At US-17 there is significant work on the overpasses and ramps. No crossbeams just yet, but the fill and tile was finished. The grading east of US-17 was much farther along.

On FL-16 going east, you begin to see the ROW around Old Shands Road to the south. The forest has been completely cleared and grading for the road is in progress.The clearing ends abruptly at a private property fence before Susan Drive.

No work on the new Shands Bridge has been initiated.

So I am going to guess but it appears based on the progress thus far, the section from where the current Shands Bridge is all the way to Hanley Road will be done first and opened first, and the Black Creek Bridge to Blanding Boulevard will be done last.

Once that is done, work will commence on the new Shands Bridge (Phase 3) The last proposal for the new Shands I saw looked just like the Buckman Bridge, so I wouldn't expect anything too glorious. The FDOT District in this area is weird about their bridge designs. 100% utilitarian.

[1995hoo]

What do you mean by "redirected to a shoofly"? I can't ever recall hearing that expression as to road construction before.

Setting aside that question, thanks for the updates.

[edwaleni]

What do you mean by "redirected to a shoofly"? I can't ever recall hearing that expression as to road construction before.

Setting aside that question, thanks for the updates.

Sorry. it's actually a railroad term. A temporary rail laid to go around an area of work.

In this situation they have both lanes moved over to temp pavement through the work area so they can finish the center pylon.

I can only assume once the center pylon is done, they will regrade/curb/pave the westbound side and push both lanes of traffic over there until the do the same with the eastbound side.

[edwaleni]

As for any signs of new development, I can say with the most certainty, the intersection of FL-23 where it currently ends at Blanding has changed dramatically since my last drive through.

Blanding is booming north of Middleburg and FDOT is currently upgrading it back to downtown Middleburg. Clay County is fixing some issues with FL-23 and CR-218.

I got pinged and they are saying the FCE will be opened first between the Shands Bridge to FL-16 west of Green Cove Springs as a sort of bypass. This makes sense as the US-17 interchange looked farther along as well as the ROW to FL-16 west of town.

Sometime when the ROW to Henley is 50-60% done, they will start the work at Blanding to add the needed overpasses for the final connection.

As for the SunPass terminals, I did see the cameras flashing to picture my plate and face.

[ChiMilNet]

Dusting this thread off. I was looking into the FCE project a bit more, and I see that there are plans to start construction on the St. John's River Bridge and extension to I-95 this year. According to the website, this document linked below looks to be fairly recent (from January this year). In all, though, I am somewhat amazed that they are saying this whole project will take to 2030. 7 years seems like a long time, but maybe the first year or two will be preliminary utility work? Also, I see the stretch currently under construction to just South of US 17 is slated to be completed in 2025. Given the progress I see on Google Maps, I am a little surprised this long given that it would look like it could realistically be done by 2024, but there may be other factors that I am not aware of. If anyone has extra context on the project beyond what I am seeing in the thread, I would love to know!

https://nflroads.com/FirstCoastExpressway/images/SR%2023_FCE_Entire%20Projct_LocationMap.jpg

[Plutonic Panda]

Are there any plans to extend it north?

[The Ghostbuster]

At present, no. In the future, maybe.

[edwaleni]

Dusting this thread off. I was looking into the FCE project a bit more, and I see that there are plans to start construction on the St. John's River Bridge and extension to I-95 this year. According to the website, this document linked below looks to be fairly recent (from January this year). In all, though, I am somewhat amazed that they are saying this whole project will take to 2030. 7 years seems like a long time, but maybe the first year or two will be preliminary utility work? Also, I see the stretch currently under construction to just South of US 17 is slated to be completed in 2025. Given the progress I see on Google Maps, I am a little surprised this long given that it would look like it could realistically be done by 2024, but there may be other factors that I am not aware of. If anyone has extra context on the project beyond what I am seeing in the thread, I would love to know!

https://nflroads.com/FirstCoastExpressway/images/SR%2023_FCE_Entire%20Projct_LocationMap.jpg

I am pretty sure covid slowed *everything* down in this project.  I mean just looking at some of my pre-covid comments of my survey from some 3 years ago, you would think it would be done by now.

The depth and riverbed sampling on the St John's River for the new Shands were done pre-covid as well. I remember with FDOT presenting the Shands bridge design ages ago. Basically a clone of the Buckman. Why? Easier to estimate, easier to bid, and easier to build.

I did traverse FL-16A not long ago and while some of the future ROW has had some trees cleared. I have a feeling that many new home owners on Silverleaf and off St Johns Parkway will not be amused that the forest in their backyards is allocated for a tollroad. The big thing for St Johns County and the tollroad is when they are done punching St Johns Parkway all the way to 9 mile road (where the new high school is) and the tollroad has a major interchange with the same parkway, it will complete something of an "inner" loop