- May 20, 2024
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Construction to turn the Cody’s Corner intersection into a roundabout could begin later in 2023.
The Flagler County Commission heard updates on several Florida Department of Transportation projects at the commission’s June 5 meeting.
The project to improve the Cody’s Corner intersection at State Road 11 and County Road 304 will be rolled into a resurfacing and improvement project that stretches from the Volusia County line at S.R. 11 to U.S. Highway 1.
The Cody’s Corner intersection has been the site of six fatalities and multiple injuries since 2014, even after the state added extra lights, rumble strips and additional signage, said Jack Adkins, FDOT District 5 director of Transportation Development.
FDOT has conducted two studies since 2015, and both recommended a roundabout for the intersection, he said.
Safety studies on modern roundabouts show that they are phenomenal, Adkins told the Observer.
“If you have a crash, you’re not calling an ambulance,” he said. “At worst, you’re calling a tow truck.”
FDOT has been working to place a roundabout at that intersection for several years. Adkins said FDOT has worked to accommodate residents’ concerns and educate residents on the safety benefits of roundabouts.
Adkins told the Observer that roundabouts are common in England, but relatively new to the U.S.
Unfortunately, he said, roundabouts have a controversial reputation from a few instances of bad design.
“Bad designs lead to bad feelings,” Adkins said.
The proposed Cody’s Corner roundabout design would keep the access points for the Cody’s Corner convenience store on the westbound lane of C.R. 304 on the western side of the intersection, and the southbound lane of S.R. 11 on the north side of the intersection.
It would also have lighting, pavement markings, a landscaped center island with truck aprons to allow more maneuverability for semi-trucks, and an access point to the residential road parallel to north S.R. 11 on the east side of the intersection.
The FDOT team also told county commissioners that the joint county and FDOT A1A Strike Team could soon begin work to add two buried seawalls, referred to as “secant walls,” along two sections of State Road A1A. The secant walls would be designed to prevent erosion.
FDOT Strategic Initiatives Manager Catalina Chacon said the strike team has selected a designer and contractor.
“Right now, their focus is securing a permit through [the Department of Environmental Protection],” Chacon said. “We anticipate we can start mobilizing as early as fall of this year to begin construction on these walls.”
Chacon said the team is meeting weekly with the Federal Highway Administration about federal funding opportunities.
The first secant wall will straddle the Volusia-Flagler County line near Gamble Rogers State Park and be about 1.25 miles long, Chacon said.
The second will be in Ormond-by-the-Sea from Sunrise Avenue to Marlin Drive, another 1.25 miles.
Flagler County already has one buried secant wall on the north side of Flagler Beach, built in 2018 after Hurricane Matthew.
Chacon said the wall was exposed during Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, but it has since been reburied.
