Standing on the newly completed Stockton Street bridge over McCoys Creek on March 26, Jacksonville City Council member Tyrona Clark-Murray recalled flooding that plagued residents and motorists in the area for decades due to debris jamming up beneath the old, lower bridge.
“This is not just an ornamental accomplishment,” she said during a ribbon-cutting for the bridge. “This is about life.”
To address the problem, the city built a new bridge higher and wider, making it less susceptible to the clogging that choked off the creek's flow and caused water to spill into streets and properties along the banks. In addition, the city is restoring creekside wetlands to absorb and slow inflow of water to the creek.
The bridge is less than one-half mile north of Interstate 10 and roughly 1.5 miles west of the McCoys Creek outfall into the St. Johns River.
Clark-Murray, whose Council District 9 includes the flood-prone area to the west of Stockton Street along the creek, was among the city and community leaders who attended the ceremonial opening of the replacement bridge.
Speakers said the bridge was designed not only to reduce flooding but to provide better pedestrian access and mobility across the creek, support business development in the area and help spur recreational activity. A portion of the Emerald Trail is designed to run under the bridge along the south bank of the creek.
“This is a very big deal to those who have lived through decades and decades of flooding in this area,” Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said.
As Council member Jimmy Peluso was addressing the crowd, a man on a mobility scooter wheeled across the walkway behind him.
“Another satisfied customer using the trail,” Peluso said, smiling.
Peluso, whose District 7 includes the area east of the bridge, said the new bridge was a long-needed infrastructure investment in a lower-income area.
“It doesn’t just put steel and concrete into the ground, it communicates to the community and the neighborhood what’s coming,” he said. “This is real public works. This is real planning.”
Council members Nick Howland, Rahman Johnson, Chris Miller, Ron Salem also were on hand.
Construction of the bridge was part of a project to restore McCoys Creek to a more natural state. A tandem element of the project was replacement of the nearby King Street bridge, which was completed in the third quarter of 2025, and reconnection of the creek to the St. Johns River through a rerouted channel between the One Riverside development and the Acosta Bridge.
The rerouting project was substantially completed in October 2025. At that time, the city reported the cost of the entire restoration at $107.6 million.
The creek channel had previously run beneath the former Florida Times-Union building, which was demolished in 2022.
In related news, the ribbon-cutting came two days after the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee voted to allow the city Public Works department to file legislation with Council on funding to acquire land to complete the Emerald Trail through east Downtown.
The legislation would allow a $12.59 million budget transfer to purchase 17 parcels along the Hogans Creek Greenway to connect the creek to the St. Johns River in the Sports and Entertainment District.