{"id":302748,"date":"2026-06-10T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/302748\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:30:10","slug":"a-year-after-teacher-1-year-old-son-killed-on-baymeadows-road-florida-legislature-funds-972k-in-safety-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/302748\/","title":{"rendered":"A year after teacher, 1-year-old son killed on Baymeadows Road, Florida Legislature funds $972K in safety upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A little over a year after a Jacksonville elementary teacher and his 1-year-old son were killed crossing Baymeadows Road, the Florida Legislature has earmarked nearly $975,000 to install a pedestrian hybrid beacon crosswalk near Wicked Barley Brewing Company.<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recommended installing the PHB crosswalk<\/a> and a central refuge island on Baymeadows Road after the deadly May 2025 crash.<\/p>\n

Sen. Clay Yarborough requested a one-time investment of $972,000 for the project, and the funding was included when the Legislature passed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.<\/p>\n

READ: Funding request from Sen. Yarborough<\/a><\/p>\n

The money won\u2019t be guaranteed, though, until Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the budget. DeSantis has line-item veto power.<\/p>\n

If the funding survives into the final budget, the improvements will be made near Goodbys Executive Drive, where Mitchell Patch and his 1-year-old son, Everett, were killed while crossing Baymeadows Road<\/a> after leaving Wicked Barley Brewing Company.<\/p>\n

Yarborough\u2019s funding request said the enhancements are designed to improve pedestrian visibility and safety, and make the crossing more accessible for all users.<\/p>\n

The funding breaks down into $120,000 for design, $170,000 for right-of-way, $595,000 for construction and $87,000 for construction inspection, according to estimates from the FDOT.<\/p>\n

According to the request, construction is estimated to begin in December of 2028 and finish in December of 2029.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville City Council member Joe Carlucci, who represents the area, also advocated for safety changes after the deadly crash.<\/p>\n

A traffic study conducted by FDOT revealed 12 crashes at the location since 2020, including two involving pedestrians and a bicyclist. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A little over a year after a Jacksonville elementary teacher and his 1-year-old son were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28927,2345,116,118,117,504,729],"class_list":["post-302748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-baymeadows-road","tag-fdot","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-safety","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}