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You've tuned into another edition of the Break Room, a weekly conversation about
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how the City of St. Augustine works from those who do the work every day.
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Hosted by the City of St. Augustine's Communications Director, Melissa Wissel,
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the Break Room offers a closer look at the different city departments and provides
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updates on current and upcoming projects and events. And now, your host, Melissa Wissel.
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Welcome to the Break Room, thanks for tuning in. We are shifting gears a bit and changing lanes
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this week, so buckle up with the King Street Bridge project nearing completion, the Avenida
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Menendez Seawall project underway, and while quite honestly a lot of ongoing FDOT activity,
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I thought it was time to bring in the subject matter experts from the Florida Department of
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Transportation, so without any further ado, please welcome to the Break Room, Florida Department
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of Transportation Community Outreach Specialist and my friend, Jacob Pickering.
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Oh, thank you so much, Melissa, for having me. This is a pleasure. You and I have been swapping emails
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for years. Yes, we have. We've met in person a few times, but we both specialize in messaging.
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That's right. Public information, community outreach, that's the bread and butter here that
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we do both deal in. And you're great for FDOT. Your name is on the bottom of a lot of press releases.
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I'm sure your phone number is very widely distributed as is mine. Let's talk a little bit about that,
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though. I want to take this opportunity to really give our listeners a bit of it. What I was
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you and I were calling F-D-O-T 101. I would like our listeners to understand that,
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you know, when you see the road closure that didn't just happen overnight, it's been a long time
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coming. So, give me the rewind us back a little bit and give us a little bit of FDOT 101.
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Of course, I'd love to do that. You know, the Florida Department of Transportation, F-D-O-T,
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I mean, we have a lot of hands and a lot of things, you know, from helping with our local programs
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department. I mean, there are so many smaller departments, local programs, right of way,
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all kinds of, all kinds, I mean, I could go on. But what I want to mention really is, you know,
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what F-D-O-T does every day is really for the people. I mean, we work to keep our, you know, our mission
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is really just to keep the goods in Florida moving and keep and keep everybody moving and keep it safe,
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you know, safety is the number one priority. But really, as far as F-D-O-T goes, the things that we do
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every day are really community-based. What I've, what I do in my position as I hear, I listen a lot.
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A lot of what I do is I listen to the people, I listen to the drivers, the walkers, the pedestrians,
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bicyclists. I take a lot of listening in and then I'm able to
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reach the F-D-O-T engineers directly, you know, you know, I'm embedded right there in the F-D-O-T
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offices in the state offices in Jacksonville. Our headquarters are in Lake City. So, a
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little F-D-O-T 101, there are seven districts in the state. So, as well as, so we call ourselves,
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you know, D1, D2 and we have these statewide meetings where we're coming in. And we're four?
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Northeast Florida is District 2. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so we're District 2, so we love District 2,
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you know, we are really proud of the work that we get to do in this district, you know, we'd like
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to be the example for other districts in the state, you know, our community outreach especially has
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really involved here. We have a team of about 10 or 12 people on the public information office
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team right now. And, you know, we have folks in Lake City, we have folks in Jacksonville, and, you know,
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I'm down here in St. Augustine a lot, I love working in St. Augustine. I mean, St. Augustine has
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some of the most unique projects, but as you'll see, you know, F-D-O-T, the thing about it is we have
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a five-year work program. So that is really the big document that everybody can, anybody can research
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online and I go back to it so often in my messaging where people will ask me, hey, you know, this road
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is looking pretty, pretty, like it needs a, needs an update. And I was like, hmm, let's see if anybody's
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thought of that before I've heard it, you know what I mean? So I go to the work program and a lot of
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the times, you'll see that, you know, the list of priority projects, okay, let me, okay, so this is a,
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let me, let me start with just saying the five years is kind of what it takes to build a project,
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right? So going back, think about, how about this one? Let me throw one at you. What about our,
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this, and this maybe, what about the, the peanut at May Street? Sure. Is that a good one? Or even our
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even the one at the base of Bridge of Lions? Like let's think of one of our local projects. Or even the
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pedestrian crosswalks out on A1A at the Amp. Yeah. We could talk about that. Oh, I would love to talk
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about that one. Yes. So that might be, that might really resonate with our listener. Oh, yes. Yeah, I
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know I've gotten a lot of, a lot of talk, a lot of excitement about this new pedestrian hybrid beacon
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crosswalk that FDOT is going to build at Madeira Drive on A1A, which is right in front of the St Augustine
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amp, the amp. Is that a five year? That fall into that? Interestingly, that project is what we call a
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push button project. So a, so a safety push button project actually gets built using safety
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dollars that are not part of the work program funding. Okay. So the work program funding comes all
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from state taxpayer dollars as well as as well as the, but also from federal grants as well. So
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we use, we use the money allotted to basically fund our work program. And then we have extra safety
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dollars that can be put towards things like events or, or we have extra money for things like push
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button contracts where FDOT basically will see a need for a safety improvement and be able to a lot
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dollars and a lot of contracting and everything like that to actually make our own separate contract
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from the work program and start something new. Is it, is it have to be something urgent? I mean,
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when you say push button that kind of needs to, makes me think of someone in a room going, okay,
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this one really needs to, I need to push the button on this one. You know, that's, it's a, it's a great
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way to look at it because it kind of is that way. I wouldn't necessarily put the word urgent, but I
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would, I would put the word, quicker than, quicker than our work, usual work program, right? So
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there are, so that is, so that's something great, you know, as far as the PHBs, we are building so many
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crosswalk improvements across district two. I mean, as far away as Hawthorne, it over in Putnam County
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and in, in Clay, US 301, I mean, all kind of, Alachua, there are so many counties that were building
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multiple pedestrian hybrid beacons, but for St. John's County, we have already installed
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at least four or five in the past two years as part of a push button contract. So
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Madeira is just another one that, that, that we're including on that list. We've already installed
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pedestrian hybrid beacon crosswalks at Fort Mantanza's Park on A1A, Green Road, which is South
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of St. Augustine, Treasure Beach Road, and Nice Beach Front Park in Vilano Beach and Euclid Avenue
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in Vilano Beach. So that's five. We've already built and now Madeira will be another one that we're
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adding on to as a separate push button contract. Yes, yes. So, so the amp directly after
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this holiday season, so basically directly after the New Year's, we're going to begin
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construction on the pedestrian hybrid beacon at the amp. So, we're really looking forward to
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getting down there. We've, there was a little bit of a delay because there was a lot of utility work
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that we had to be, incorporate with, of course, the county, St. John's County Utilities.
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We had to relocate a couple of utilities out there before we could actually safely build it,
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right where we want to build it, where it's where it's needed. So, that was a reason for the delay,
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but we're really excited to finally get started on that crosswalk right after the holidays.
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Okay, the right of ways is a deal. I'm going to do a quick identification if you're just now
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tuning in. You're listening to the Break Room. I'm Melissa Wissel, communications director for
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the city, and I have Jacob Pickering in studio. He is the community outreach specialist for FDOT.
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If you're just now tuning in, you are getting a FDOT 101 lesson. And we've got a few minutes left.
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We were talking about pedestrian hybrid beacons, which is one is going in at the amp.
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We've got one downtown, which may also have a facelift. You were mentioning, but before we check
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out of this episode, and clearly we're going to have to have you come back. Let's talk what's really
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on people's minds, the King Street Bridge. Let's get that one out. We've got about four or five minutes
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left. So, let's talk about King Street Bridge. It was supposed to be a redo. Now it's a
modification
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and a repair. Give us a little bit of that history. How's it been going? Can you give us a drum roll and
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give us a closer window when we can expect to make that turn and come into downtown? Of course.
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Yes. So, the King Street Bridge, we call it the King Street Bridge rehabilitation project.
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So, we've had some public hearings back in the day about completely replacing the bridge.
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Since we've put that out, we've really tried to make the community impact as minimal as possible.
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In that turn, we've now decided to rehabilitate the bridge. The bridge has undergone over the summer,
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major rehabilitation work, concrete structural repair underneath the bridge, as well as lighting
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improvements, things on the surface of the bridge as well, but a lot of it took place underneath.
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A lot of old concrete, old metal that had to be basically rebuilt and restructured all underneath
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the bridge. But the good news is, we have had the detour going, but the good news is that the bridge
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is on track and we have met our goal of opening it in early November. So, it'll be 100%
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and before nights of lights. So, we're really excited. We've actually met our goal. We promised
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we were going to rehabilitate it and open it before nights of lights begins. We're really close.
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Well, I know that I've been told we're going to reopen it in early November. So, hopefully in the first
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couple of weeks in November, but definitely before the 21st. So, that's a really good news.
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Motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, you'll all be able to hit that bridge again and get an
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easy over from the dorms over to the winery, you know, in back and things like that.
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But they've done changes to the, I would call it a jersey barrier, but basically the wall of,
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puts those pedestrians, well, actually there wasn't a wall if I think about it. You were just on a
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bare sidewalk. So, will we see a lot of change on the surface aesthetically or is it pretty much just
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underneath? There will be some minor changes to the bridge aesthetically on the top.
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100% new pavement markings and also will have sharrows on the bridge itself, which is shared use
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lane markings. That basically tells drivers that motorists are allowed to use the whole lane as well.
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So, we will have the sharrows on the bridge, new pavement markings. And yes, the sidewalk,
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to my understanding, will be a little bit wider than it was. We've been able to sort of extend it,
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but it won't be too drastically different than what you're used to. It'll still have the two lanes
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westbound, the one lane eastbound, but it will all be brand new pavement markings. And folks can
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drive over it knowing that the bridge will be sturdy for multiple years to come.
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The, no, we're not going to have any ribbon cuttings. No. We're just going to wake up one day,
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and I'm going to be able to turn down King Street to go downtown. That's right. Yeah, yeah.
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I'll try to do my best to get the word out before it happens, but what I like to do is,
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life needs a surprise every now and then. If I can just give you a nice surprise, I'll do it.
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But also, I'll write a press release. I'll make a social post. I'll see what we,
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but sometimes when they tell me they're going to open something, and then I put a press release out,
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I'm sure you've been through this. And then I kind of jump the gun because something happens.
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And then they're like, oh, it's going to be 14 hours later. And I'm like, okay, do I make the
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decision? Do I make a whole new press release or do I modify it or do I just kind of let it ride?
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And a lot of the times I find it better just to let life have a little bit of surprise every now and
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then. So you and I will get together when we know this is happening. Oh, yes. And you write the
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release. And then I take your release and I don't, I don't, I don't resource, I don't create
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original content when it comes to FDOT projects. I'm just going to put that out there.
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Give me a quick update too as well. What is this going to look like on Malaga? Because those of us
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that take that detour every day are accustomed to coming up Malaga now and taking a left on the US 1.
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Right. Exactly. So that is a temporary traffic configuration we built for the detour. And that
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temporary traffic configuration will come down. So on Malaga, it will return to its condition pre
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construction. So after the bridge reopens in early November, you're going to see some occasional
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nighttime lane closures at the intersection of Malaga and US one as basically we take down the
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temporary traffic signal we built and we're going to just have it back to its original form formation
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which is folks on Malaga heading northbound will only be able to take a right turn onto US 1
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northbound again. And once the bridge is reopened. So we're going to return that intersection back.
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So we won't be completely finished with the project. After we open the bridge, we still have some
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work to do to get that temporary traffic detour down. So we appreciate everybody's patience as we
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work to get that done and back to normal out here. Back to normal. That's right. Whatever that looked like.
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Well, believe it or not. And I told you this when we started, we would run out of time.
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We have not talked about Avenida Menendez. We haven't even done really a recap of some of our
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other big projects. So I'm going to ask you to come back. I would love to. And we'll give our listeners
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a refresh on FDOT 101 and recap some of those other fantastic projects. That sounds great. Thank you
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for having me so far. Thanks for coming, Jacob. If you missed part of this broadcast, I want to go
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back and listen from the beginning. You can find it on your favorite podcasting app for complete
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listing of our podcast platforms this episode and past episodes visit citystaugradio.com. We want
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to keep you informed about what's happening in and around the city and that you hear it here from
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the people who do the work to make it happen every day. Follow us on social. You'll see us on Facebook,
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Instagram and X @CityStAug until next time. Thanks for tuning in. You've been listening to the
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Break Room, a weekly program addressing projects and programs offered by the city of St. Augustine.
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Join us each week as the city's communications director Melissa Wissel has in-depth conversations
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with the people who make our town work to meet the needs of our community. See you at this time next week
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for another edition of the break room.