Increases in Traffic in Ponte Vedra Beach: Is It Commuter Traffic? Cut-Through Traffic? Population Increase?

by Gwinn Volen

Is it cut-through traffic that clogs Palm Valley Road? Has construction in Nocatee and St Johns County caused increased commuter congestion on A1A?

The Citizens Traffic Task Force in Ponte Vedra/Palm Valley commissioned a study to understand where traffic originates for some of our more congested roads. Since I moved here in 2006, traffic has definitely picked up, and yet, having lived in large cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, and DC, the traffic still feels pretty minimal to me, albeit sometimes annoying.

Using Streetlight data, which pulls from cellular carriers, car movement and where the car came from can be tracked.  Here's a link to the report, and here are the key findings on where the traffic comes from:

• Data shows that PVPV roadways are primarily occupied by Local and Commuter users (i.e., residents circulating within the community, residents commuting, and service providers, employees, and residents living outside the area commuting into and out of PVPV).
• Local user volumes are highest on roadways in the central portion of the study area (e.g. Corona Road east of A1A is 74% local users).
• Commuter volume is highest on perimeter roadways (e.g. Mickler Rd. and the Palm Valley Bridge is 91% commuter users).
• AADT on A1A between Solana Road and JTB is currently well over the designed capacity (MSV = maximum service volume) for the roadway.