The Florida Department of Transportation is working to repair portions of State Road A1A after heavy rain wiped out some of the temporary repairs made following Hurricane Matthew.

  • Portions of State Road A1A in Flagler Beach damaged by rainwater
  • Area is where roadways washed out during Hurricane Matthew
  • Transportation officials monitoring the roadway's safety
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Bob and Jinnie Horn said they drive along A1A each day. The remember the destruction the hurricane caused in October 2016.

"It was scary because I've never seen anything like that before," Jinnie Horn said. "It was really bad."

A large chunk of A1A in south Flagler Beach was closed for about a month. The repairs were completed in about two weeks, and the roadway reopened in early November.

After another round of storms on Tuesday, however, the popular oceanfront highway is again in bad shape.

Steve Olson, communications manager for the Florida Department of Transportation, said rainwater drained off the roadway and eroded away some of the sand along a few areas of A1A during weather events Tuesday and Thursday morning.

"I was surprised because I didn't think it was that much water that it would have caused that much trouble," Jinnie Horn said.

Crews needed three dump trucks of sand to patch up the damage along the corridor.

Olson said the Department of Transportation's asset maintenance contractor responded to the area, made repairs and continues to monitor the situation.

"The repairs were done, and costs covered, under a broader maintenance contract between FDOT and the contractor," Olson said. "The repair work included time, equipment and product — including the equivalent of three dump trucks' worth of sand."

Larry Newsom, the city manager of Flagler Beach, said vegetation and dunes would normally help and provide a layer of protection, but most of that disappeared during the hurricane.

"Even with the vegetation, you get a hard rain like we had two days ago and you’re still going to have the potential of washouts," he said. "Washouts will never go away along A1A."

Officials are dealing with a separate issue, though.

People are taking some of the rocks along the dunes and creating stone piles along the sand in Flagler Beach. The rocks, officials said, keep the sand unexposed and protect the road from heavy waves.

"That's to add support," Newsom said of the rocks.

FDOT said it's now working with law enforcement to keep people away from the coquina rocks that were placed there after the hurricane.

The Horns said they are ready for a more permanent fix to the roadway because of the businesses and the possibility of reliving the traffic nightmare in the weeks following the storm.

"I don't want to see the road slide into the beach and they have to keep moving the road over," Bob Horn said.
 
FDOT said crews will continue to monitor A1A to make sure it remains safe. The agency is hoping to put out bids for the permanent fix within the next year. Repairs are still in the design phase.