City Sets Sept. 22 Meeting on South Dixie Highway Sidewalk Project, Work Starts Sept. 28

The City of St. Augustine will brief residents Tuesday on a sidewalk project that reshapes a stretch of South Dixie Highway, with construction crews scheduled to move in the following week. The public meeting runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Alcazar Room of City Hall, 75 King Street, and gives residents their one formal chance to ask city staff questions before work begins the week of September 28.

The South Dixie Highway Sidewalk Project will add new sidewalks on both the east and west sides of the highway between SR-207 and Davis Street. It also brings ADA-compliant detectable warning mats, the small textured pads at curb ramps that alert pedestrians with visual impairments to an approaching street, along with new signage along the corridor.

For a road that carries a steady mix of local traffic, cyclists and pedestrians heading toward downtown, the gap in sidewalk coverage has long meant people walking along the shoulder or cutting through grass and gravel. Closing that gap is the point of the project, and it comes with the usual tradeoffs of any construction zone: lane shifts, equipment staged along the roadside, and weeks of noise for anyone living or working nearby.

What to expect Tuesday

City staff plan to walk residents through the project scope, the construction timeline and what changes drivers and pedestrians should watch for once crews start work. The meeting is informal and open to the public, with no registration mentioned by the city.

Residents who can't make the meeting or have questions afterward can reach City Mobility Manager Marcus Pinson directly. He's the point of contact the city has designated for this project.

What isn't known yet

The city has not released a full construction schedule showing which segments of the highway will be worked on first, how long the project is expected to take from start to finish, or whether temporary lane closures or detours will be needed during the work. Those are exactly the kinds of questions Tuesday's meeting is meant to answer, and residents who live or drive along South Dixie Highway between SR-207 and Davis Street have the most reason to show up.

Stay with St. Augustine Community Website for updates on this project and other local news, and join the conversation in our Community Forum to share what you're seeing on South Dixie Highway once work begins. For more on decisions shaping the city, check out our government and politics coverage.

Header photo: Michael Rivera / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)