ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Perhaps nothing is a more obvious outgrowth of growth than increasing traffic. The most recent report card from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) illustrates that point.
“It’s not a concern, it just means that there is considerable growth happening right now,” FDOT spokeswoman Bianca Speights told First Coast News on Monday.
But it is a frustration.
“People can’t get through this road during the day, it’s horrible,” said St. Augustine resident Jonathan Finley in front of the Dunkin’ Donuts where he works on San Marco Avenue. The road is one of several in St. Augustine getting the worst rating from FDOT.
In its report, FDOT’s District 2, which encompasses 18 counties in northeast Florida, ranks roads on an A through F scale, reminiscent of school report cards. “A” indicates that “traffic flows at or above the posted speed limit and all motorists have complete mobility between lanes”. An “F’ denotes conditions in which “flow is forced; every vehicle moves in lockstep with the vehicle in front of it, with frequent drops in speed to nearly zero mph. A road for which the travel time cannot be predicted”. The roads are graded during peak commute hours and the most recently available report is based on analysis in 2017.
Roads given an “F” were color-coded red in FDOT’s report. But Speights admonished that “F” doesn’t mean failing.
“The only thing that that shows is that this area in particular has a lot of growth,” Speights said. “And so the department is up to the standard with growth. We’re always reviewing and prepared for that growth.”
Speights also noted that FDOT District 2 works closely with the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization to blueprint road infrastructure. A recent statistics chart from the TPO indicates that in 2016, road congestion cost north Florida $990 million in economic losses. It also shows an 11% increase in vehicles per lane-mile during peak hours the same year and a four-percent increase of roadway miles severely congested during commute times.
In St. Augustine, segments of Ponce de Leon Boulevard, State Route 16, and the Bridge of Lions all received poor grades in the FDOT report. Elsewhere in St. Johns County, a stretch of Route 13 just south of Julington Creek near the St. Johns River came up red as well. Perhaps most unsettling is that projections for some roads predicted no improvement in the next 20 years and beyond.
“That’s a long time to keep that grade,” said Tom O’Toole, new in town from Ohio. “I mean, honestly, it should be improved and we should get an 'A' as soon as we could.”
But Speights had a different perspective, cautioning that improving all Florida roads to “A” status – if it were even possible – would not be worth the money.
“We have a lot of roads here and we have to be very careful and very good stewards with taxpayer dollars,” she said, suggesting that the cost to achieve the ideal could outweigh the cost of a reasonable amount of traffic.
In fact, having “F” grade roads, when it comes to traffic congestion, is to some degree an inevitable, she said. Instead of resignation that traffic capacity will always seem to worsen, Speights breathed confidence about the future. Even if the growth continues long-term.
I definitely think the Department will be ready to adjust and add capacity to the roadway wherever we can, wherever will be the greatest benefit.
Finley, who has lived in the area all his life, acknowledged that growth could be its own victim by driving people away. But even amid his frustration Finley implied strongly that slower commutes can’t stop his love for the region.
“If some people love it here they’d stay here.,” he began. “I mean, traffic? You can get through traffic. It takes a longer time but other than that you’ve just got to be patient.”
To view the FDOT report, click the following link: http://fdot-d2-los.hdrgateway.com/