ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — St. Johns county is one of the fastest growing counties in the state and if you’ve driven on some roads there recently, you know there is more traffic.
In April, new data released by St. Johns County shows there are several roads that are overcapacity. Meanwhile, more neighborhoods are getting approved for construction.
"I was looking for information about traffic," Doris Taylor of St. Augustine wanted to know more about local government.
She researches online and attends county commission meetings.
This week, she found a spreadsheet on the St. Johns County website titled, "St. Johns County Transportation Analysis Spreadsheet.".
Copy and paste this link into a new window to see the spreadsheet. A download will begin: http://www.sjcfl.us/Transportation/media/tas.xlsx
"I looked at it and went," her jaw literally dropped, "this is really important!"
Important, because this list of roads in St. Johns County also indicates which ones are deficient or overcapacity.
Phong Nguyen, Director of St. Johns County's Transportation Development Division told First Coast News if a road is deemed deficient, it essentially means it has more cars on it than meets a certain calculation.
In other words, it's a jammed road.
In the column titled Percent Service Volume Utilized is 100 percent, it indicates the road is at-capacity. There are several roads on the list that over 100 percent, and some even over 200 percent.
That includes portions of County Road 210 and areas of Racetrack Road.
Many of the roads that are over capacity are in areas where more neighborhoods have been approved for future development by St. Johns County commissioners.
"Drawing the connection between more houses and more people moving in and traffic is not a hard connection to make," Taylor said.
A Florida law allows new development to move forward as long as developers pay what’s called their "fair share". It’s a price based on how much it will cost to alleviate traffic congestion on clogged roads. But many believe it’s not enough, and they think the constant approval of neighborhood construction is too much for the roads and the county to handle.
Taylor said, "I’m not against development. I’m against out of control development."