North Florida Roads

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) began a $3.4 million project to replace Sixteen Mile Creek Bridge on County Road 13 in St. Johns County Monday, January 4.

The bridge will be replaced with a new 40-foot wide concrete bridge with two 12-foot lanes and two 8-foot emergency lanes. Currently, the existing bridge, which was built in 1956, has a weight limit. Once the new bridge is constructed, the weight limit will be removed.

Crews are scheduled to begin by placing a temporary bridge and pavement next to the eastbound lanes of the bridge so traffic can be shifted and two lanes can be maintained during the bridge construction. This traffic shift is scheduled to occur in late February or early March.

Once the majority of the new bridge has been constructed which should take approximately ten months, traffic will be shifted again and the remainder of the new bridge will be built. Following the bridge replacement, crews will remove the temporary pavement and bridge and begin resurfacing County Road 13 from just east of Bennie Smith Road to just west of Cracker Swamp Road. Along with the resurfacing, minor drainage and driveway modifications will occur towards the end of construction.

Lane closures will occur when the contractor is shifting traffic and resurfacing the road. Construction is scheduled Monday through Friday during daytime hours. No nighttime work is anticipated or scheduled at this time.

The speed limit will be reduced to 40 mph during construction with speeding fines doubled when workers are present.

Superior Construction Company of Jacksonville was hired by FDOT to complete the project by the Summer of 2011. The work is being managed by the FDOT under the federal bridge replacement program which uses federal funds to replace bridges off the state road system.

For more information on this FDOT project, contact the FDOT Public Information Office toll-free at 800-749-2967 (Ext. 7830).