St. Johns County celebrated the opening of the new Palm Valley West Boat Ramp with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 13.
The boat ramp, located at 230 Lori Lane in Ponte Vedra, will allow boaters and kayakers to enter the Intracoastal Waterway from its west bank underneath the Palm Valley Bridge, providing the public with an additional waterway access point. The project budget was $1,163,730, including a $490,000 Florida Inland Navigation District grant.
St. Johns County Parks and Recreation Director Ryan Kane spoke about the benefits of enhanced accessibility to the county’s waterways.
“This is a great example of finding a resource and expanding on access to it,” Kane said. “St. Johns County has more than 16,700 registered vessels. There is the demand and the need for access to the waterways, and the Board of County Commissioners has seen that need.”
District 4 Commissioner Krista Joseph praised the upgrade in safety represented by the project.
“Now we’ve got a beautiful boat ramp so families can get their boats out, and my daughter and others will be able to launch a paddleboard without having to rock out there by themselves,” Joseph said. “I love the fact that we’re doing things that make people more active in our community.”
“The neighborhood has shown a vested interest, and we value that,” Kane said. “We want to be good neighbors.”
Greg Leonard, president of the Palm Valley Community Association, attended the ceremony and expressed his happiness with the county’s direction in addressing neighbors’ needs.
“I’ve been delighted to see the things the county has been doing to improve the infrastructure for the benefit of the residents in this area,” Leonard said.
In addition to a new concrete boat ramp and kayak launch, the Palm Valley West Boat Ramp is equipped with a fixed wooden dock, a floating dock with an aluminum gangway, a new sidewalk and improvements to the parking area and the maneuvering area.
Gulfstream Design Group and Hayward Construction Group handled the realization of the project.
