On Yulee's Hornets Drive, the Left Turn Is Gone and the Roundabouts Do the Work

A concrete median runs down the middle of Hornets Drive from the Theresa Road roundabout to the Miner Road roundabout. It is low and plain, and it decides almost every trip a driver makes to Yulee High School. No school entrance along that stretch allows a left turn, in or out.

So the two roundabouts are the turning lanes. On this road, a driver who wants to go left goes right, around the circle and back. Almost every rule worth knowing on Hornets Drive follows from that one design choice.

A 1.8-mile road built around one school campus

Hornets Drive is what the county used to call the William Burgess Boulevard Extension. It is a 1.8-mile, two-lane road from US 17 to Miner Road with a 10-foot multi-use trail along it. There is a signal at US 17 and roundabouts at Theresa Road and Miner Road. Yulee High's entrances open onto Hornets Drive itself.

Nassau County School Superintendent Kathy Burns cut the ribbon on July 28, 2026, according to the News-Leader. The paper's subhead said the road "will improve traffic around Yulee schools." The opening came in two pieces. The Theresa Road to Miner Road section opened at 6 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, in time for Yulee High's Convocation and First Flight. The county set the US 17 to Theresa Road section, including the new signal, to open Monday, Aug. 10, at 6 a.m., the first day of school. The light at US 17 and William Burgess Boulevard went live on Aug. 5, while Hornets Drive itself was still closed.

The name fits the campus. Yulee High's teams are the Hornets.

Getting in: almost every arrival goes around Miner Road

This rule surprises people most often, because it can send a driver past the school before they turn into it. The county's August traffic alert put it this way:

Drivers approaching from U.S. 17, William Burgess Boulevard, or Theresa Road should continue to the Miner Road Roundabout and use the roundabout to safely return to the appropriate school entrance.

Here is what a morning drop-off looks like from the US 17 side:

1. Turn onto Hornets Drive at the US 17 signal.
2. Go through the Theresa Road roundabout and keep heading toward Miner Road.
3. Drive past the school entrances. The median blocks them from this direction.
4. Go around the Miner Road roundabout and head back the way you came.
5. Turn right into the school entrance you need.

Coming from Theresa Road works the same way. You join Hornets Drive, keep going to Miner Road, loop, and come back. Only drivers arriving from the Miner Road end can turn right into campus without a loop, because the entrances are already on their side of the median.

The exit column is the result of one blunt line in the county notice: "All vehicles must turn right onto Hornets Drive." Which way you face after that turn depends on which entrance you used. The roundabout at the end of the road takes care of the rest. The county's two named options are to continue to the Theresa Road roundabout and exit onto Theresa Road, or to continue through a roundabout to reverse toward Miner Road.

Why the county traded left turns for loops

On a map, the loop looks like a detour. The county's explanation is that every left turn across oncoming traffic is a spot where two cars can meet head-on or broadside. The traffic alert says the access design is meant to "reduce conflict points and improve safety by eliminating left-turn movements across opposing traffic." A driver waiting to turn left into a school entrance during drop-off holds up everyone behind them, and the median removes that wait completely. A roundabout keeps cars moving at low speed instead of stopping them.

The bigger reason sits a mile or so north. The county describes Hornets Drive as an alternative south of SR 200, meant to spread traffic out and ease peak-hour congestion near Yulee Middle and Yulee High. Before this road existed, school traffic going between US 17 and Miner Road had fewer ways to get there. Now it has a direct, signalized route that never touches SR 200. In a June 2026 capital projects update, the county said "early phased openings have already shown improved traffic flow around school campus areas."

The county paid real money for that alternative. Its August 2023 project sheet budgeted $20.492 million, with $2.9 million from the Florida Department of Transportation's Local Transportation Program and $17.592 million from the county. By a June 2024 update, the total had risen to $23.542 million. The state share stayed at $2.9 million, and the county's share grew to $20.642 million, so local dollars covered the entire increase of about $3.05 million. The construction contract the county commission awarded to Petticoat-Schmitt on Aug. 12, 2024 was $16.452 million. That figure is the build price, not the full project budget.

The 10-foot path along the edge

The same design applies to people on foot and on bikes. Hornets Drive carries a 10-foot shared-use path for walking and biking, and the county said it would be reachable from US 17 and Miner Road once the road opened. A student walking to Yulee High from either end has a separated lane the whole way, and the drivers next to them are no longer stopping to turn left across their path at the entrances.

Ten feet is also the width Nassau County's comprehensive plan uses for trails on one side of non-arterial roads, under a broader goal of connected pedestrian and bike routes. County notices about Hornets Drive describe the path's access points at US 17 and Miner Road, and they stop there. Treat it as a school-corridor path with two ends, not as part of a finished trail network.

Students who plan to ride an e-bike on it have one more step. Under Nassau County School District guidance dated July 30, 2026, students in grades 6 through 12 may ride e-bikes to and from school only with a District permit and registration. The permit requires an application signed by both student and parent and completion of an e-bike safety course. The same guidance says riders must follow applicable traffic laws, riders under 18 must wear helmets, and students must walk their e-bikes to designated parking once they are on campus. The district's notice has the full requirements, and families should check it directly before the first ride.

The William Burgess end is getting busier

At its US 17 end, Hornets Drive meets US 17 at the new signal. Drivers coming from William Burgess Boulevard cross US 17 there, which is why the county's entrance rules list William Burgess Boulevard alongside US 17 and Theresa Road.

Farther along William Burgess, near I-95 and SR 200, Parker's Kitchen is building its first Florida store at 75970 William Burgess Blvd. In a Sept. 22 release, the company said it expected to open in late October. The Florida Times-Union reported the same late-October timing on Oct. 7. Neither gave an exact date, so if you plan to stop on the way to a school pickup, check the store's own announcements first.

That puts a fuel-and-food stop at the I-95 end of a corridor that now runs without a break to Miner Road. The section past Yulee High still works under the median rules described above. The signs tell you how. The county's notice asks drivers to obey school speed limit signs, yield signs, pedestrian crossings and advisory speed signs along the new road.

At Yulee High, drivers going left go around a roundabout first, and drivers leaving campus always turn right.

If a new route like Hornets Drive has you rethinking which part of Yulee makes the most sense for your school run, your commute or your next home, Craig Brewis knows these corridors street by street and is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.