ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Orange traffic barrels and excavators line Masters Drive in St. Augustine as crews are ready to shut the road down.
It'll be a bit of a headache for drivers, but when crews are done making improvements, it'll hopefully get flood water out of the area faster.
"They say take your time with it," said Victoria Santee, who works near the construction site. "No rushing perfection."
The days of Santee trekking down Masters Drive to get to work at the Circle K gas station on State Road 16 are over — for a while anyway. Construction crews are shutting down the road near the intersection with SR-16 for the next 50 days to install a new culvert.
"It's definitely something that could be a little bit more timely done, honestly, instead of a month and a half," said Santee.
St. Johns County leaders said in a press release, the new culvert is bigger than the existing one and should help pump flood waters from storms and high tides out of the area faster.
The culvert is part of a $3.8 million project to ease flooding around the Santa Rosa subdivision, including areas north of SR-16 that are prone to flooding. Several inches of flooding were visible Sunday afternoon on a street directly across SR-16 from the culvert.
"It can get pretty bad during hurricanes and bad flash flood warnings," said Santee.
Santee is hoping the 50-day closure doesn't wind up being any longer.
"I hope everything is done in a timely manner, so we can get back on track and live life the way it should be," said Santee.
The part of Masters Drive with the culvert will close this week through the end of March.
Drivers can take a detour down Varella Avenue to Cervantes Avenue and get back on Masters Drive to get past the closure.