A1A at TPC Boulevard: What FDOT Changes Mean for Ponte Vedra

The version of the A1A plan most people saw in June is no longer the version on the table. The biggest change for drivers coming out of TPC Boulevard was that they would no longer cross A1A straight through. A September update from St. Johns County Public Works says that piece has been dropped. The offset left turns, the less visible part of the plan, have kept support at every stage.

That shift happened in a series of small meetings over the summer. FDOT's project page still shows the June documents, so anyone who checks it today sees the original design. Here is what was proposed, what has changed, and what remains open.

The June Proposal, as Drawn

The Florida Department of Transportation's project 210404-4 covers State Road A1A from Gnarled Oaks Drive to the Duval County line. It names six locations. Two of them sit right at the Sawgrass Players Club end of the corridor:

• TPC Boulevard/Country Club Boulevard: eastbound and westbound through movements rerouted, with northbound and southbound left turns offset for visibility
• Sawgrass Village Drive/L'Atrium Drive: eastbound and westbound through movements rerouted

The other four are a rerouting at Fairfield Boulevard/Sawgrass Drive West, rerouted northbound left and westbound through movements at Solana Road, a longer southbound auxiliary lane from Merchants Plaza to Professional Drive for traffic merging off J. Turner Butler Boulevard, and a longer eastbound right-turn lane at Ponte Vedra Lakes Boulevard.

"Rerouting through movements" is vague on paper. FDOT's concept sheet for the TPC-to-Sawgrass Village stretch is more specific. It labels "U-turn bulb out" areas sized for a WB-62FL design vehicle, which is a large truck. Under that geometry, a driver leaving TPC Boulevard to go straight onto Country Club Boulevard would turn right onto A1A, U-turn at the bulb, and then turn right. The drawing doesn't spell out that sequence in words, but it follows from the layout.

FDOT estimated the project at $7.1 million.

What the Modeling Promised

FDOT's case rested on delay. The presentation shown at the June hearing included a 2030 comparison with these projected average waits at the two intersections:

Those are cuts of roughly 57 to 63 percent. The project's June 2026 Traffic Operational Analysis Report gives different 2030 figures in its Table 5-5. For TPC Boulevard/Country Club Boulevard, it shows 20.8 seconds falling to 8.7 in the morning peak and 31.1 falling to 10.8 in the evening peak. For Sawgrass Village Drive/L'Atrium, it shows 18.4 falling to 4.2 in the morning and 33.4 falling to 14.4 in the evening. The two FDOT documents don't explain why their numbers differ. Both show the build design cutting delay at each intersection by more than half. The report's modeling started from turning-movement counts taken on September 13, 2023. It measured an 8 to 9 a.m. morning peak and a 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. evening peak, and it assumed 0.5 percent annual traffic growth. The same report put 2024 daily traffic at 42,500 vehicles on A1A between Solana Road and Ocean Place.

FDOT spokesperson Meg Ross named the intersections the agency cared about most. "Our main goal with this project is to decrease congestion while also increasing safety, specifically at certain intersections like Solana Road, TPC Boulevard, and Sawgrass Village Drive," she told News4JAX. The Ponte Vedra Community Association's July newsletter described TPC and Sawgrass Village as places with recent serious-injury crashes and one death.

How the Room Responded on June 23

The in-person hearing was at THE PLAYERS Community Senior Center on Landrum Lane. News4JAX reported that the crowd spilled into the hallway and that some people left because they couldn't find a seat.

Many speakers agreed with FDOT that the corridor has a problem. They disagreed about the fix. A resident argued for solid turn signals in place of the flashing yellow used today. Another resident described two lanes merging into one with cars "doing 55, 60 miles an hour" and said a traffic light would solve it. Ross told the crowd that "nothing's yet finalized." Comments for the official record closed July 7.

Three Updates That Reshaped the Plan

After the comment period closed, the plan changed through local channels rather than through new FDOT documents:

1. July 8. The president of the Citizens Traffic Task Force wrote to The Ponte Vedra Recorder that the June drawings were proposals. The letter argued the offset left turns mattered for safety and said residents could back them without backing the "no through traffic" element.
2. August 10. At the Ponte Vedra Beach Municipal Service District meeting, trustee and CTTF member Mickey White reported that Commissioner Krista Joseph had sent out steps agreed on by the state and the county. They included offset lefts, an upgraded TPC intersection, protecting palm trees, keeping the blinking light at Fairfield as is, no U-turns, and a roundabout at the J. Turner Butler Boulevard exit on Marsh Landing Parkway. White also reported that FDOT was still studying alternatives to the U-turn at Solana Road.
3. September 14. At the next MSD meeting at Christ Church, Public Works Director Greg Caldwell said the county had been working with FDOT on an alternate plan. He said it removes all U-turns at A1A and Solana Road, may affect only one tree, and makes no changes to movement from the east side of A1A to the west side or back.

Caldwell summed up the revision like this:

"The new plan removes U-turns and minimizes tree impact while still providing the same traffic relief."

That last update is the one that matters at TPC Boulevard. Under the June concept, the straight crossing to Country Club Boulevard would have been replaced by a right turn, a U-turn and another right. Under the plan Caldwell described, that crossing stays the same.

June Versus September at a Glance

What Has Not Been Settled

The right-hand column comes from what officials said at meetings. It is not from a published drawing. Caldwell said Public Works is still refining the changes and will inform the community once a plan is set. As of early October, FDOT's project page still links the June 2026 boards, handout, presentation and concept sheets, and it lists both the start date and the completion date as "TBD." We found no St. Johns County Commission vote approving a revised design.

Caldwell said the alternate keeps the benefits of FDOT's original model. No new delay figures for that version have been published, so the TPC Boulevard projections in both the presentation and the analysis report still apply only to the June design.

Two other details are easy to mix up:

• Timing. The PVCA newsletter relayed that FDOT could carry out the recommendations when A1A is resurfaced in "2027 or 2028." That timeline comes from the association's newsletter. It does not appear on FDOT's project page.
• Money. FDOT's tentative work program for fiscal 2027 through 2031, dated April 1, 2026, lists $20,282,395 in fiscal 2027 construction funding under the same project number. That entry is categorized as SR A1A resurfacing. The project page lists $7.1 million for the operational improvements. The two documents don't explain how those figures relate, so they should be treated as separate numbers.

Caldwell said the next step involves the public. "There will be some type of interaction with the public to make sure the information is provided," he told the MSD board. When that happens, the questions for TPC Boulevard drivers are whether the revised drawing keeps the straight crossing to Country Club Boulevard and how the offset left turns are laid out. The Ponte Vedra Beach MSD's monthly meetings at Christ Church are where these updates have come out so far. FDOT's project contact is Meg Ross at 904-360-5437.

At The Morrow Group, we follow projects like the A1A redesign because the way traffic gets in and out of TPC Boulevard is part of what owners in Sawgrass Players Club live with every day. If you are weighing a move and want to know how corridor changes could figure into your home's value, request a complimentary home valuation and we will go through it with you.