The Florida Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin construction of a railroad overpass on State Road 100 in downtown Starke.
Work is set to begin on the Starke Railroad Overpass project on July 13, weather and unforeseen circumstances permitting, at a cost of approximately $23.6 million. JB Coxwell Contracting, Inc., of Jacksonville, has been hired to complete the work for FDOT.
Currently, the City of Starke is divided by the CSX railroad that runs parallel to U.S. 301. With 29 trains traveling through the city each day, emergency vehicles and other traffic experience frequent delays, and train traffic is expected to increase in the future. The overpass will ease congestion and improve emergency response times and allow traffic to flow more freely.
The project will see construction of a bridge from Adams Street, just east of U.S. 301, to South Street. One-way frontage roads will be constructed to allow local traffic to access Cherry, Church, Thompson, and Walnut Streets.
Detour information is still being finalized, but FDOT and its contractors will take all precautions to ensure that impacts to motorists are limited as much as possible.
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