page_title: Florida State Road 23
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Florida State Road 23 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: southbound on SR 23 at the Plantation Oaks Boulevard bridge, 71393000 mile 1.140 (frame 253)
context_page_description: State Road 23, also known as the First Coast Expressway, is an outer bypass around the southwest quadrant of Jacksonville. As of 2018, the first phase has been built, linking the Middleburg area to Interstate 10 near Whitehouse.
  The ultimate plan is for a $1.8 billion, 46.5 miles, four-lane toll expressway continuing southeast to Green Cove Springs and east to Interstate 95 near the World Golf Village, to be constructed in two phases. Construction of the section from Middleburg to just north of SR 16 near Green Cove Springs began in 2019 and is expected to wrap up in the middle of the 2020s. Construction of the final section, from near Green Cove Springs and across the St. Johns River then continuing east through St. Johns county to I-95 is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed around the end of the 2020s decade.
context_section_description: The plans for connecting I-10 to SR 21 (Blanding Blvd) date back to 1979. SR 23 was originally planned as a toll road by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise to meet those plans, but those plans fell through.
  The Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Clay County worked together to connect Branan Field Road in Clay County and Chaffee Road in Duval County. By 2003, the Duval County section was open, and connected south to Branan Field Road in Clay County. By late 2004, the Clay County section was added. Currently the entire route stretches from I-10 in Jacksonville to a point on Branan Field Road north of Middleburg.
  The project was formerly known as the First Coast Outer Beltway and the Branan Field-Chaffee Expressway, but its current name is the First Coast Expressway.
caption: Bridge carrying Plantation Oaks Boulevard over the future expressway in OakLeaf Plantation, built 2010
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