St. Johns County's future transportation improvements include the controversial six-lane State Road 313, a bypass road for U.S. 1 that - according to the Florida Department of Transportation - will cost $82 million.
That figure is an estimate made Monday by FDOT officials and is not part of an extensive transportation plan that will be presented to the St. Johns County Commission this morning by the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization.
The TPO's plan outlines all publicly funded highway projects from 2013-2014 through 2017-18.
One of the largest projects on the list is $13.1 million for right of way acquisition for S.R. 313.
James Bennett, urban transportation development manager for Florida Department of Transportation, said $14 million has already been spent for right-of-way property and environmental studies on S.R. 313.
But, he hinted, don't expect bulldozers to be clearing ground for the bypass soon.
"It's a good project. I'm not sure we have all the right-of-way funded," Bennett said. "(But) we do not have any construction funded at the moment."
That $13.1 million comes from $4.8 million budgeted for 2013-14 and $8.3 million for 2014-15.
The 9.3-mile road, which extends east-west on State Road 312 northward from its intersection with State Road 207, was conceived roughly 20 years ago as a bypass to busy U.S. 1.
Its northernmost point will pass S.R. 16 and Big Oak Road and intersect U.S. 1 somewhere near Northeast Florida Regional Airport.
"That is how it was envisioned by the county," Bennett said.
Opponents of S.R. 313 have said that the traffic data leading up to the project's conception has been long out of date, and they question the road's cost and environmental damage.
Wanda Forrest, transportation planning manager for the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, said the S.R. 313 project will be very expensive.
"This is one of St. Johns County's priorities," Forrest said. "(But) it's probably going to be a long time coming."
The North Florida TPO draft lists all the state's budgeted projects in St. Johns County - some costing millions and some as small as a $600 pedestrian crossing.
The list also contains money for right of way purchases for other major road projects, such as for State Road 9B.
This year, the FDOT will spend a total of $8.7 million to buy property along S.R. 9B's path from County Road 2209 to the Duval County line. That breaks down to: $2 million for 2013-14, $158,000 for 2014-15, $2 million for 2015-16, $3.5 million for 2016-17 and $1 million for 2017-18.
Forrest suggested that the figures in the TPO report are not final.
"This is all a draft work program," she said.
The North Florida Transportation Planning Organization is seeking citizen input about its transportation improvement program in St. Johns, Duval, Clay and Nassau counties. The public may offer comments at www.northfloridatpo.com.