As President of the Friends of A1A, I am proud to announce that the Ocean Conservancy Beach Cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, September 20^th.  This annual event, taking place in seventy-five countries around the globe, will see Friends of A1A doing a cleanup of the beach  and dunes at Porpoise Point from 8AM until noon.

We will be at the beach access located at Porpoise Point Drive and Genoa Street. Call or e-mail me and I will send you directions if you need them.

There will be a number of trash ‘grabbers’ available and ice water for all volunteers. You should wear closed shoes, gloves, and sun protection. An adult must accompany volunteers under sixteen.   

Please join us and encourage your neighbors and friends to assist in keeping our community and beaches a wonderful and clean place. Please let me know if you are coming so I can let Bernie Gay, our Friends of A1A Volunteer Coordinator, know. Thanks!

Fact Sheet

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)  has begun work on the much needed intersection improvements at A1A (AKA S. Ponte Vedra Blvd.) and Mickler Road. The improvements include adding a light and a turn lane. These improvements should help this accident-prone intersection.  The FDOT will be holding an open house on Thursday, September 4th to discuss the improvements. All are invited. Here are the details:

FDOT Open House

When: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 1-2 p.m. and 5-6 p.m.

What: Open house to discuss a road construction project at Florida A1A and Mickler Road

Who: Transportation officials will be available

Where: Crosswater Community Church at 1050 Florida A1A N.

The $2.2 million project, which was set to begin Tuesday, will involve resurfacing portions of the road and installing a traffic signal at the intersection.

The work will include resurfacing A1A from Gnarled Oaks Drive to Mickler, widening the road for new left turn lanes from A1A North to Mickler Road and Ponte Vedra Boulevard, replacing and realigning portions of the sidewalk from Gnarled Oaks to the Overlook business complex, constructing pedestrian islands at the intersection and constructing three drainage ponds. During construction, a temporary pavement and barrier wall will be on A1A, Mickler and Ponte Vedra Boulevard for traffic shifts and to protect workers and motorists. Daytime lane closures will occur during construction, but not from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6:30 p.m.

For more information, call, toll-free,(800) 475-0044, or e-mail monica.reifeiss@aecom. com.

As chair of Scenic & Historic Corridor Management Council and President of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway, I am frequently asked about burying utilities along our scenic highway. We get push back from Florida Power and Light (FPL). So in an effort to once again understand this issue, I went to FPL's website and found:

http://www.fpl.com/environment/lines/brighter_future.shtml

FPL maintains, "The reliability of overhead and underground lines is comparable...The key difference between underground and overhead lines is that it typically takes more time with underground lines to diagnose the problem and make repairs. This difference in repair time is best characterized in days rather than hours." Additionally FPL states on their website: "Compared to overhead transmission lines, underground transmission lines take longer to repair and are five to fifteen times more costly to construct...FPL may only bury lines when another entity agrees to pick up the differential cost between underground and overhead construction."

Doing some quick research on the Internet, I found this report that states that underground lines are considerably more reliable than overhead, but again more expensive to bury. So, as we all suspected, it comes down to money.

http://www.eei.org/industry_issues/energy_infrastructure/distribution/UndergroundReport.pdf

In the above Edison Electric report, on page 11 it says, "The Florida House of Representatives requested that the Florida Public Utility Commission prepare a proposal to underground all electric facilities in the state following the unprecedented landfall of four major hurricanes in Florida in 2004."

We need to find the referenced proposal. I found it: http://www.psc.state.fl.us/publications/pdf/electricgas/Underground_Wiring.pdf