St. Johns County is one of Northeast Florida’s fastest-growing counties, with World Golf Village the center of much of that boom.
However, some neighbors will tell you the growth comes with a heavy price.
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“There’s people that don’t even live in this area that already talk bad about how bad it is driving here,” Cindy Chong told Action News Jax Thursday morning.
Now, with a nearly 53-acre Walmart Supercenter planned for the area just a mile down the road from the World Commerce Center Costco, Buc-ee’s, and the new Bass Pro Shops location, neighbors are worried it may be time to pump the brakes a bit on all the retail coming to World Golf Village.
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Though some say a new Walmart nearby has its pros and cons.
“My wife loves it, it’s closer for her, but at the same time, you’re gonna pay the price for the traffic and the congestion here,” James McColley said.
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While permitting details for the new Walmart include plans for two new turn lanes on International Golf Parkway, and three new turn lanes on a future St. Johns Parkway extension, Chong told Action News Jax she feels more still needs to be done. Specifically, regarding the traffic signals coming in and out of the World Commerce Center.
“That light getting out of there is also very short. It can’t accommodate for the Costco, it can’t accommodate for the traffic of Buc-ee’s, and if you add the Bass Pro in, it can’t accommodate for that either,” Chong said.
Action News Jax reached out to the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners about their plans to mitigate some of those traffic impacts, as well as some of the expected benefits this retail boom will bring to the area, but commissioners were unavailable for an interview by newscast time.
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