A series of multimodal transportation improvements are causing serious traffic congestion in Atlantic Beach.
The $9.6 million Mayport Greenway project will create a 12-foot shared-use path on the northbound side of Mayport Road from Atlantic Boulevard to Dutton Island Road. A dedicated bike lane and sidewalk will also be installed along the southbound side, cutting the six-lane roadway down to four lanes.
While the Florida Department of Transportation said most work will happen at night Sunday through Thursday with no lane closures between peak hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., that has not been the case, according to Atlantic Beach officials.
“While FDOT previously stated that lane closures would be restricted to nighttime to minimize commuter disruption, that has indeed not been the case,” said City Manager Kevin Hogencamp, noting that the city was notified Monday that the on-ramp would be closed for two months.
“They have since clarified that some daytime lane closures are necessary. For more than two months, the westbound on-ramp to Atlantic Boulevard from Mayport Road has been closed. That’s why we’ve seen all the extra traffic. I really and truly think that when we get through this, we will be glad about the outcome of this project.”
Many residents living west of Mayport Road are frustrated by the lack of information regarding the project’s timeline. Commissioner Jessica Ring said she was concerned by the public misconception that the city of Atlantic Beach is responsible for the closures.
“That lane closure absolutely happened day one and it wasn’t between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. What more can we do from our end to push out more information, maybe putting out the images of the future that FDOT sent us at the public input meetings?” she said. “Maybe seeing the end result may help them understand what’s happening. We can’t do anything about them closing lanes. I really think we need to get ahead of this before it gets worse.”
Commissioner Thomas Grant suggested implementing temporary access to the ramp since it is not impacted by the work. “Those types of situations exist all the time and to have the ramp closed for two months just seems pretty untenable,” he said.
“I would encourage you and the police to work with our partners at Naval Station Mayport if the ramp is absolutely closed, for service members and other contractors to use Wonderwood Drive to alleviate that choke point. I think it would help a great deal.”
Mayor Curtis Ford expressed concerns that the project will impede access to the city’s centennial and the country’s 250th celebration, July 11, at Beaches Veterans Memorial Park.
“I know you could make the request of FDOT to make sure we have the lane open the day before, the day of the event and maybe even the day after, but I don’t know where they will be in the work on the existing infrastructure,” he said. “I really would like to know that as soon as possible.”
Hogencamp said Atlantic Beach Police are actively working on the city’s behalf to improve traffic conditions and get the correct information out to the public.
“We have the opportunity to get word out and make it clear that this is an FDOT project, notwithstanding the confusion around not receiving full information about the ramp closure,” he said. “We indeed did approach FDOT. They are proceeding on this timeline because of the city’s leadership and requests six to eight years ago.”
Atlantic Beach Police Chief Vic Gualillo said the department responded to two crashes on the first day of the project and five more over the weekend.
“Day one we realized there was a problem. We were there at 6 a.m. when we realized [the ramp] was closed. The contractor came back and let us know this was part of the plan, so we offered them our best guidance to provide more messaging in the street. FDOT acknowledged our request and they’re going to change some of the signage over the roadway,” said Gualillo.
“Most people in that right lane going south expect that to be a straight lane. It’s now going to be a turn lane. The timing of that light is also going to be affected so we asked them to extend the timing of that light so there is more time to make that transition from Mayport Road onto Florida Boulevard and make that right turn.”
Additional paint will also be going on the street to indicate to drivers that it is going to be a turn-only lane. The left lane that used to be a turn-only lane is now straight and turn to get onto Florida Boulevard or eastbound on Atlantic Boulevard.
“We’ve communicated to FDOT all of our best recommendations and I think they’re going to follow up on most of those,” said Gualillo. “It may take a few days to get that in place, but we’ll try to monitor that as closely as we can.”
Work is expected to be completed in the fall of 2027.
