St. Johns County to Close Portions of Watson Road to Install Sewer Transmission Main
- 28 January 2025
- Category: SJC News Road Closures
- Tags: 2025
Beginning Monday, February 10, portions of Watson Road west of US Highway 1 will see road closures for the construction of a new sewer transmission main. Starting at the intersection of US Highway 1 and Watson Road, a new sewer force main will be constructed along Watson Road to the end of the Deerfield Trace community. The new pipe will extend further west to I-95, north to State Road 207, and connect to the new advanced Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) located north of SR 207, 1 mile west of I-95.
The project along Watson Road will be constructed in four phases. The phases of construction are scheduled to last from February until August. These schedules may change if weather or unforeseen conditions occurs during the construction.
East and west bound traffic on Watson Road may be detoured to US 1 using Datil Pepper Road to allow for additional construction area in the work zones to expedite the construction. Traffic west of Datil Pepper Road will be detoured however, residents’ access to their homes east of Datil Pepper should be unimpeded during the construction. Drivers are reminded to use caution in the area and follow all posted signs and crew instructions.
The Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 64 requiring a state-wide elimination of non-beneficial surface water discharges of effluent from wastewater treatment facilities. This project will help comply with the new SB 64 by diverting flow to the new WRF that would normally discharge to the Anastasia Island WRF. Once this transmission project is placed into operation in 2026, the surface water discharge to the Matanzas River will be reduced by 1.0 million gallons per day removing 16.7 tons of nitrogen and 6.1 tons of Phosphorus per year from the Matanzas River.
A public meeting to discuss the details of this project and road closures will be held on Wednesday, February 5th at the Southeast Branch Library at 6670 US Highway 1 South, Saint Augustine, FL 32086 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm.