Florida State Road 23

State Road 23
Branan Field Road Cecil Commerce Center Parkway
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length:	11.395 mi[1] (18.338 km)
Major junctions
South end:	Branan Field Road near Middleburg
North end:	I-10 in Jacksonville
Location
Counties:	Clay, Duval
Highway system
Florida State Highway System Interstate US SR Former Pre-1945 Toll ← US 23 SR 24 →

State Road 23 (SR 23), also known as the First Coast Expressway, is an outer bypass around the southwest quadrant of Jacksonville. As of 2013, only 2 miles (3.2 km) of controlled-access expressway and 9 miles (14 km) of temporary surface road have been built, linking the Middleburg area to Interstate 10 near Whitehouse. The ultimate plan is for a $1.8 billion, 46.5 miles (74.8 km), four-lane toll expressway continuing southeast to Green Cove Springs and east to Interstate 95 near the World Golf Village.

History

Bridge carrying Plantation Oaks Boulevard over the future expressway in OakLeaf Plantation, built 2010

The plans for connecting I-10 to SR 21 (Blanding Blvd) date back to 1979. SR 23 was originally planned as a toll road by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise to meet those plans, but those plans fell through.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Clay County worked together to connect Branan Field Road in Clay County and Chaffee Road in Duval County. By 2003, the Duval County section was open, and connected south to Branan Field Road in Clay County. By late 2004, the Clay County section was added. Currently the entire route stretches from I-10 in Jacksonville to a point on Branan Field Road north of Middleburg.

The project was formerly known as the First Coast Outer Beltway and the Branan Field-Chaffee Expressway, but its current name is the First Coast Expressway.

Future

The beltway when finished will contain 17 interchanges and a new bridge across the St. Johns River near the current two-lane Shands Bridge.^[2]

Funding

Funding for the $1.8 billion project will be competitively bid as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) opportunity for private sector businesses. By using a PPP and innovative contracting solutions, the project will be built years earlier than with traditional contracting methods. The awarded contractor(s) will serve as the concessionaire to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the beltway. The Florida Department of Transportation is currently engaging private contractors in a competitive bidding process. The I-595 Corridor Express PPP with I-595 Express LLC was the first of its kind in Florida, opening years ahead of schedule.^[3] The beltway is the largest infrastructure project in Florida History.

In early 2011 the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) abandoned the plan to find a private company to build the entire 46.6 mile beltway and just focus on building the 15 mile section between I-10 and SR 21 (Blanding Blvd). This section is partly built and would need flyovers built and widening done for the expressway to be complete. It is expected to cost around $291 million and would be a tollway.^[4]

In August 2011, the FDOT announced that the Florida's Turnpike Enterprise will be taking on the $291 million project of turning the 15-mile stretch into a tollway. Construction on the road is expected to begin in 2012 and be open by 2016. As for the remaining 30+ miles of the beltway, the FDOT is still trying to find a private partnership to build that section of the road, but currently none has been found.^[5]

Tolling

According to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), all tolls will be done electronically and compatible with SunPass used in other parts of the state with no toll booths. There will be two exceptions to the tollroad. The 3-mile section between I-10 and SR 134 (103rd Street) will not be tolled to help promote growth in the Cecil Commerce Center. Also people living around the Shands Bridge area will be exempt from tolls on the Shands Bridge crossing the St. Johns River.^[6]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
St. Johns				I-95 (SR 9) – Jacksonville, Daytona Beach	future interchange
	SilverLeaf Plantation			CR 2209 (St. Johns Parkway)	future interchange
				To CR 16A / CR 210 / CR 244 (Longleaf Pine Parkway)	future interchange
St. Johns River				future bridge
Clay				US 17 (SR 15) – Palatka, Green Cove Springs	future interchange
				SR 16 – Penney Farms, Green Cove Springs	future interchange
				CR 218	future interchange
	Lake Asbury			CR 739 (Henley Road)	future interchange
				SR 21 (Blanding Boulevard) – Middleburg, Orange Park	future interchange
				CR 220A (Old Jennings Road)	future interchange (southbound exit and northbound entrance)
				Trail Ridge Road	future interchange (southbound exit and northbound entrance)
		0.000	0.000	south end of state maintenance
	OakLeaf Plantation	0.197	0.317	Oakleaf Plantation Parkway	future interchange
Duval		2.764	4.448	Argyle Forest Boulevard / Oakleaf Plantation Parkway	future interchange
	Jacksonville	6.380	10.268	SR 134 (103rd Street) – Macclenny	future interchange
		6.599	10.620	Chaffee Road (CR 115C north)	to be closed in the future
		7.798	12.550	SR 228 (Normandy Boulevard) – FSCJ Cecil Center, Cecil Field, Equestrian Center	future interchange
		9.202	14.809	New World Avenue - FSCJ Cecil Center, Cecil Field, Equestrian Center	future interchange
		11.395	18.338	I-10 (SR 8) to I-295 / I-95 – Jacksonville, Lake City	I-10 exit 350
				US 90 (SR 10) – Baldwin, Whitehouse	future interchange
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

External links

• FDOT - First Coast Expressway No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.