State Road 16 (SR 16) runs from northwest to southeast between Raiford and St. Augustine. It passes through the towns of Starke and

Green Cove Springs Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is named after the porti ...

in addition to providing access to

Camp Blanding Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, both the Florida Army National Guard and certain nonflying activities of the Florida Air National Guard. The installation is ...

. Major roads and/or highways that SR 16 crosses include:

US 301 U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...

, SR 21,

US 17 U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Highway that spans in the southeastern United States. It runs close to the Atlantic Coast for much of its length, with ...

, SR 13,

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

and

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

Route description

The route begins at Florida State Road 121 in Raiford and runs straight east. After passing the Union Correctional Institute, and a furniture factory across from a forest, it curves southeast to cross a bridge over the New River, thus crossing the Union-Bradford County Line. From there it runs between the Florida State Prison and New River Correctional Institute, and remains at this general trajectory until it reaches Starke. After passing under the diamond interchange with U.S. Route 301 Alternate (Starke Bypass), the road enters the northern edge of downtown Starke, where it encounters the intersection with CR 229 and makes a curve more towards the east before intersecting

. Five blocks later, it has a grade crossing with the two tracks of the

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

Wildwood Subdivision The Wildwood Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. It runs along CSX's S Line from Baldwin south to Zephyrhills via Ocala and Wildwood for a total of 155.7 miles. The S Line is CSX's designation for the line t ...

then four blocks later, curves directly east once again. Leaving the city, the road bends slightly to the northeast and later crosses the Bradford-Clay County Line where it then encounters a sharp left curve to the north at a wye intersection with the eastern terminus of SR 230, only to curve back straight east again, where it has another intersection with the southern terminus of CR 225. These sharp curves are around the northwest shores of Kingsley Lake, and then the vicinity of

. The southwestern terminus of CR 215 provides a shortcut towards Jacksonville, but the main road leading to that city is found later as SR 21, north of Belmore. East of SR 21, the road passes by the historic town of Penney Farms and then runs through Pass Station before crossing a bridge over Peters Creek. At the Clay County Fairgrounds, the route has a short overlap with Clay CR 315, a tri-county road running from Marion County through Putnam County almost towards Fleming Island. In

, the road crosses the

Sanford Subdivision The Sanford Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. The line runs along CSX's A Line from St. Johns (near Jacksonville) south through Palatka to DeLand. At its north end it continues south from the Jacksonville ...

and the Clay County Historical Museum, then makes a sharp turn to the south at

, sharing an overlap with that route until the Leonard C Taylor Parkway, where it leaves US 17 and returns to the east. SR 16 crosses the St. Johns River using the

Shands Bridge The Shands Bridge is a two-lane automobile bridge carrying SR 16 over the St. Johns River south of Jacksonville, Florida. History The first structure at the site was a 2-mile-long wooden toll span with a draw bridge inaugurated in 1928. It wa ...

. This bridge connects Clay and St. Johns Counties. The Shands is often considered an emergency alternative to the Buckman Bridge that is farther north. The difference between both bridges is that the Buckman, which carries Interstate 295, has eight lanes while the Shands has only two lanes. The Shands Bridge is expected to be retired and replaced with a wider bridge in the future as part of the First Coast Expressway project. After the bridge, the road has a wye intersection with SR 13, and turns southbound again in another overlap. As SR 16 turns east again, Route 13 is downgraded into St. Johns County Road 13, which runs along the east bank of the St. Johns River towards Spuds,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, and even as far south as the vicinity of Bunnell. SR 16's eastern trajectory ends again at the southeastern terminus of CR 16A and southern terminus of Silverlake Parkway. It curves back to the east between CR 208 and

at Exit 318. The last CR 16A is at Lewis Speedway before the road crosses a bridge over the San Sebastian River and enters the historic City of Saint Augustine where it crosses the main line of the

Florida East Coast Railroad The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pro ...

just before the intersection with

. Florida State Road 16 ends two blocks later at San Marco Avenue ( US Business Route 1).

Major intersections

Related routes

Clay County

CR 16A is a county road in

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Flor ...

. It is a suffixed spur of SR 16 located just west of the city of Green Cove Springs serving residences around the northwest quadrant of

Kingsley Lake Kingsley Lake is an almost perfectly circular lake of about in North East Florida, is located inside Clay County about east of Starke, Florida. According to some sources, it is the oldest and highest lake in Florida, located on the edge of th ...

St. Johns County

CR 16A is a county road in

St. Johns County, Florida St. Johns County is a county in the First Coast, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 273,425. The county seat and largest incorporated city is St. Augustine, Florida, St. August ...

. It is a spur of SR 16 in northwestern St. Johns County. It goes through mainly rural land. It begins at SR 13 just north of the

and continues about 1.5 miles before making a junction with County Road 210 afterwards it continues until its end at SR 16 near

World Golf Village The World Golf Village (WGV) is a golf resort in St. Johns County, Florida, United States, located between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. It was created by the PGA Tour and showcases the World Golf Hall of Fame. In addition to the resort the W ...

. It is the older alignment of SR 16, ending at SR 13 at the Old Shands Bridge pier.

References

External links

*{{Commons category inline 016 016 016 016 016