What is the First Coast Expressway?
What do you know about the First Coast Expressway? Possibly not a lot because it hasn’t yet directly impacted residents of St. Johns County until recently.
Questions have been popping up on social media about the construction being done near the Shands Bridge. This new bridge across the St. Johns River will be part of the First Coast Expressway that has been under construction since 2013.
This multi-lane, limited access toll road will cross parts of Duval, Clay, and St. Johns counties. What is a “limited access toll road?” You’ll pay a toll to use it and it will work with the SunPass transponder system.
Once complete, the Expressway will be 46 miles in distance and is planned to reduce congestion and traffic on other major roadways in the region, specifically for daily commuters.
How is it being funded? The entire project is funded by the Florida Turnpike Enterprise.
Project Phases
The first segment of the Expressway was completed in 2019. This segment starts at Blanding Blvd/State Road 21 in Clay County and extends north to I-10/US 90 in Duval County.
The second segment runs from Blanding Blvd/SR 21 in Middleburg south and then east into Green Cove Springs. This includes a new bridge over Black Creek.
There are two separate projects for this second segment. The North project is expected to be complete in 2025 and the south project should be complete in 2026.
The third segment of the Expressway is also made up of two projects. This is where St. Johns County residents start to see construction.
The new bridge over the St. Johns River is being constructed just south of the Shands Bridge and is expected to be complete in 2029.
The final segment will be a new road from east of the County Road 16A Spur over to I-95 in St. Johns County. That is expected to begin construction in the summer of 2023 and be completed in 2030.
There is a great YouTube video of the project that you can watch here:
For more information, check out First Coast Expressway
Beth Tate 