GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla -- Clay County’s Bonded Transportation Program won the Regional Award for Excellence in Transportation from the Northeast Florida Regional Council. Commissioners, county leaders, and staff received the award on Thursday. 

To accommodate Clay County’s anticipated growth, Clay County created seven large road projects designed to increase public safety, improve traffic flow, and reduce congestion throughout the county. This group of projects is called the Bonded Transportation Program.

The projects span improvements to existing roadways and the creation of a new major thoroughfare called Cathedral Oak Parkway. Work is currently ongoing on all of these extensive projects that will directly impact Clay County residents. As more people call Clay County home and as northeast Florida continues to grow, the county is putting a foundation in place so they are in the best position possible to handle those changes.

The preparations for the construction of these major projects started in 2020. As the First Coast Expressway became a reality, county planners and engineers analyzed our roadway capacities in areas of predicted growth. They determined projects to improve roads that were already at capacity, or where the traffic flow could be better. 

Staff had to complete many processes, including right-of-way acquisition, surveying, utility coordination, public meetings, and environmental assessments before construction could begin. Crews put the first shovels in the ground in 2022, and construction has been ongoing throughout the county since.

The projects are aimed to:

* Improve traffic flow

* Increase public safety

* Increase travel lanes

* Add drainage features

* Include sidewalks

* Include bicycle lanes

The total project is estimated to cost $179 million, and is funded through bonds and other revenue streams.

The Board of County Commissioners determined the fastest way to complete and fully fund the work, with the best value for taxpayers, would be through an infrastructure sales tax revenue bond. The tax-exempt bonds were issued in March 2020. They will be repaid at a fixed rate through the county’s infrastructure sales surtax (one-cent sales tax) over a 20-year period.

Using bonds allowed us to complete the work in the most cost-effective way. If we waited until we saved enough money for each project, it would have taken decades to complete and the cost of design and materials would have dramatically increased.

Growth and development are happening all over Florida. The Bonded Transportation Program is instrumental in managing those changes. It will allow our county to stay ahead of the anticipated growth on our roadways as we redesign the infrastructure to handle the expected increased traffic. 

You can stay up to date on these projects through this dashboard, and you can also get updated information about these, and all of the county's road projects through a weekly newsletter .