The Miranda Road bridge that goes over Lake Vedra has been a talking point of the Ponte Vedra Municipal Service District for some time now and action is now being called for in relation to it.
“The sidewalk is not ADA standard whatsoever, and it actually seems to even jut out into traffic a little bit where you step up onto it,” MSD trustee Brad Wester said. “It’s just really not a good standard that we should all be living by.”
Wester has mentioned to the county that while they come down along San Juan Drive during the planned sidewalk project along the route that they work with the MSD to improve the bridge since it is one of the linkages from Solana Road down to Miranda Road.
“After the bridge it links up to sidewalks and becomes a loop everywhere else, so for that first section, I suggested that if there isn’t a structural deficiency with the bridge, than we need to wrap the resurfacing of the bridge and the sidewalk area and blend that into a project that meets ADA standard with sidewalk connectivity,” Wester said. “I got a, ‘yes, that’s exactly what we should be doing,’ but the magic formula is where is the money coming from.”
It is a discussion they are currently having with St. Johns County officials, as the MSD has already committed $150,000 to go toward that segment of the sidewalk project.
Wester has talked with St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Joseph and has urged the importance of getting this issue in front of the commission for a vote.
Trustee Mickey White urges all residents with issues with the bridge on Miranda Road and the need for sidewalks along San Juan Drive to call and reach out to their county commissioners, because that feedback will go a long way in helping push those projects in the directions they need to go to create change.
“We’ll advocate and ask for those changes too, but it all helps,” White said.
The resurfacing of San Juan Drive is also expected to be in the plans for the near future, but narrowing down a precise timetable is still in process.
According to White, he believes the resurfacing is scheduled for some time within the next year.
However, trustee Kitty Switkes informed the board that she met with county road and bridge officials on April 8, and they told her that it could be as early as the next week, but that it was definitely in the plans.
“I asked them if resurfacing the bridge would hurt us when it came to getting federal funds or grants we would need to eventually completely replace the bridge, and they are going to find out,” Switkes said. “Because that was something we were told years ago.”
More updates are sure to come regarding the Miranda Road bridge and the sidewalk project down San Juan Drive at future MSD meetings. The next one is scheduled for May 13 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Ponte Vedra Beach Public Library.
