Matanzas Woods Parkway Re-Opening on Monday, 2 Weeks Before School Resumes

Matanzas Woods Parkway will reopen August 10, two weeks before school resumes at nearby Matanzas High School, on Aug. 24.

“We are on schedule with the project,” County Engineer Faith Alkhatib said. “With all the rainy weather, our contractor (Hubbard Construction Company) has been going above and beyond to keep this project on schedule.”

Matanzas Woods Parkway closed June 5 so the portion of the roadway that spans Interstate 95 could be reconstructed and elevated a few feet to accommodate four single-lane ramps for on and off access. The goal was to complete that portion of the project before school starts. But there will still be intermittent lane closures, as the ramp construction isn’t slated for completion until May 2016, the county announced in a release this morning.

The Matanzas High School schedule will be considered throughout the construction period, including home football games.

There will be no lane closures allowed on Matanzas Woods Parkway between 7 and 8:30 a.m. or between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. on days when school is in session. Additionally, there will be no lane closures three hours before or an hour after the end of football games.

Residents voiced concern at an April meeting about the impact of the interchange for pedestrians. Alkhatib has since been working with the contractor to make additional safety improvements that are currently being finalized.

The changes include pedestrian islands, additional signage and revised striping to enhance pedestrian safety.

“We take safety concerns very seriously,” County Administrator Craig Coffey said. “Staff worked very quickly to address those concerns.”

The original improvements include the widening of the interstate to accommodate new acceleration and deceleration lanes, wet detention ponds adjacent to the roadway, sidewalks, lighting throughout the corridor, overhead signs and landscaping.

Alkhatib has been working on the project for a decade and secured both federal funding and money from the Florida Department of Transportation to cover the nearly $9 million is construction costs.

“This has been a team effort,” Alkhatib said. “We really expedited all phases of this project, and to arrange for it to be built in a year is amazing.”

Project details are available and regularly updated at matanzas95interchange.com. Links are available on the Flagler County website flaglercounty.org.