GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. — You hear change doesn’t happen overnight, but Misty Bauer doesn’t remember the last time traffic clogged so quickly in Green Cove Springs.
“It’s absolutely absurd, I can barely get out of my neighborhood now,” Bauer said.
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Bauer lives in a neighborhood off County Road 315, right down the road from where Clay County just started a two-month closure at the CSX railroad tracks at County Road 209. The work started on Monday and there has been such a strange change in traffic, Bauer took a video of it this morning that she sent to Action News Jax.
“I tried leaving the house early, it didn’t make much of a difference,” Bauer said. “I took my son to school and got him there on time, but just getting back it took me about 40 minutes, and his school is about 5 minutes down the road.”
The road is now closed off where County Road 315 meets County Road 209, creating a 1.5-mile detour taking drivers back to U.S. 17. Bauer said it’s causing the worst traffic she’s ever seen in all her years living in Green Cove Springs.
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“I figured it would be difficult, but this is beyond difficult to me,” Bauer said.
Action News Jax’s Finn Carlin spent the afternoon driving through the area, running into long traffic backups along County Road 315B starting a little before 12:30 p.m. There are about six neighborhoods in the immediate area connecting drivers to U.S. 17.
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The highway connects Jacksonville with Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, and even goes to Palatka. The Florida Department of Transportation says more than 34,000 cars drive down the highway every day.
Bauer worries the weeks of road work will cause more traffic both on and off the highway.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult over the next few weeks,” Bauer said.
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Action News Jax got in contact with Clay County to ask about the County Road 209 closure, along with the other road projects going on across the county. The county’s government sent us this statement in response:
“This is one of several ongoing road projects throughout the county to improve our roads, alleviate congestion, make them safer, and prepare for the growth we are experiencing daily. As with all of our projects, we continue to monitor the traffic and will make any necessary changes.”
The county says it will post updates to its road projects website as both this road project and the county’s other projects continue. You can find those updates at the link here.
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