First_Coast_Expressway
Florida State Road 23
Highway in Florida
State Road 23 (SR 23), also known as the First Coast Expressway, is a controlled-access toll road serving as an outer bypass around the southwest quadrant of Jacksonville. As of 2024[update], the first phase has been built, linking the Middleburg area to Interstate 10 near Whitehouse, with the second phase is currently under construction and will be completed in 2030.
| Branan Field Road Cecil Commerce Center Parkway First Coast Expressway | ||||
Completed section of SR 23 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise | ||||
| Length | 11.395 mi[1] (18.338 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  SR 21 (Blanding Blvd.) near Middleburg | |||
| North end |   I-10 / US 90 in Jacksonville | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Counties | Clay, Duval | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
The ultimate plan is for a $1.8 billion, 46.5 miles (74.8 km), four-lane toll road continuing southeast to Green Cove Springs and east to Interstate 95 near the World Golf Village, to be constructed in two phases. Construction of the section from Middleburg to just north of SR 16 near Green Cove Springs began in 2019 and is expected to wrap up in the middle of the 2020s. Construction of the final section, from near Green Cove Springs and across the St. Johns River then continuing east through fast-growing northern St. Johns County to I-95 is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed in 2030.
The First Coast Expressway runs from Interstate 10 going southbound, then traverses southbound via two lanes passing by the POW-MIA Memorial Parkway, Normandy Blvd, 103rd Street, Arygle Forest, Oakleaf Plantation Parkway, Old Jennings Road, and the coming to an end of the first phase at SR 21 (Blanding Blvd).
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 in 1997.
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 SR 21 (Blanding Blvd) in 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.
The beltway when finished will contain 17 interchanges and a new bridge across the St. Johns River in place of 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 (FDOT) 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, 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, 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.[5] Construction started on September 10, 2012 and was completed in 2017.
Construction on the second phase of the expressway, from SR 21 (Blanding Blvd) to Green Cove Springs, started in October 2019. The third and final phase of the project, which includes replacement of the Shands Bridge, started in May 2023 and will be completed in 2030.[6]
Tolling
According to 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 (4.8 km) section between I-10 and New World Avenue 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.[7]
Tolls are collected between each exit south of Exit 42.[8]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Johns | | 0.0 | 0.0 |   I-95 (SR 9) / I-295 – Jacksonville, Daytona Beach | Future interchange (to be connected with I-295); future southern terminus; I-95 exit 333 | |
| SilverLeaf Plantation | 2.5 | 4.0 |  CR 2209 (St. Johns Parkway) | Future planned interchange | ||
| | 6.0 | 9.7 |     To CR 16A / CR 210 / CR 244 (Longleaf Pine Parkway) | Future planned interchange | ||
| St. Johns River | 9.5 | 15.3 | Shands Bridge | |||
| Clay | | 10.5 | 16.9 |  SR 16 – Green Cove Springs | Future planned partial interchange (northbound exit and southbound entrance) | |
| | 13.0 | 20.9 |  US 17 (SR 15) – Palatka, Green Cove Springs | Future planned interchange | ||
| | 19.0 | 30.6 | SR 16 – Penney Farms, Green Cove Springs | Future planned interchange; diverging diamond interchange | ||
| | 24.0 | 38.6 |  CR 218 | Future planned interchange | ||
| Lake Asbury | 27.6 | 44.4 |  CR 739 (Henley Road) | Future planned interchange | ||
| | 30.3 | 48.8 | 31 | SR 21 (Blanding Boulevard) – Middleburg, Orange Park | Current southern terminus | |
| | 32.1 | 51.7 | 32 |  CR 220A (Old Jennings Road) | Southbound exit and northbound entrance; southern terminus of frontage roads | |
| OakLeaf Plantation | 34.5 | 55.5 | 35 | Oakleaf Plantation Parkway / Discovery Drive | Partial diverging diamond interchange; northern terminus of frontage roads | |
| 35.4 | 57.0 | Plantation Oaks Boulevard | Former at-grade intersection | |||
| Duval | 37.1 | 59.7 | 37 | Argyle Forest Boulevard / Oakleaf Plantation Parkway | Single point urban interchange | |
| Jacksonville | 40.7 | 65.5 | 41 |  SR 134 (103rd Street) – Macclenny | ||
| 36.9 | 59.4 | Chaffee Road (CR 115C north) | Southern terminus of CR 115C | |||
| 42.1 | 67.8 | 42 |  SR 228 (Normandy Boulevard) – FSCJ Cecil Center, Cecil Field, Equestrian Center | |||
| 43.5 | 70.0 | 44 | POW-MIA Memorial Parkway – FSCJ Cecil Center, Cecil Field, Equestrian Center | |||
| 45.6 | 73.4 | 46 |  I-10 (SR 8) to I-295 / I-95 – Jacksonville, Lake City | I-10 exit 350, signed as exits 46A (east) and 46B (west) | ||
| 46.6 | 75.0 | US 90 (SR 10) – Baldwin, Whitehouse | Current northern terminus | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | ||||||
- FDOT straight line diagrams Archived 2014-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
- "First Coast Outer Beltway plan sheets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
- "Crist touts outer beltway in Clay County speech". Clay Today. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
- Florida Times-Union http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400669/larry-hannan/2011-08-15/state-make-wednesday-announcement-outer-beltway?cid=hp-topnews. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Hannan, Larry. "Outer Beltway: $2.25 estimated cost to drive from I-10 to Blanding". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
- "Outer Beltway around Cecil Commerce Center will not be tolled". Florida Times-Union. Jacksonville, FL. Archived from the original on 2017-11-09. Retrieved April 2, 2010.