An eagerly anticipated St. Augustine Beach city project to create a pedestrian crossing signal at a busy intersection is close to happening.

The intersection of Pope Road and State Road A1A has been a common place for accidents as people cross A1A on their way to the beach.

But soon a new pedestrian signal will flash amber in the northbound and southbound lanes of A1A in hopes to prevent pedestrian accidents.

"Safer to cross that way I don't have to worry about it," Tiffany Bravo said of the signal.

People who use the crosswalk at Pope Road and A1A say it's a traffic signal residents have been asking for for years.

"Traffic lights are a good use of our tax dollars," one resident said.

When pedestrians want to cross the road, they can press a button to make the amber light turn red to signal to drivers that a pedestrian is about to cross the road.

The city of St. Augustine Beach and St. Johns County agreed in August 2010 to share the approximately $200,000 cost for the traffic light after many residents complained that the intersection is dangerous.

Daniel Jackson has been a pedestrian in St. Johns County for more than 20 years and says this intersection is always busy for cars and walkers.

"St. Augustine Beaches is home to a lot of elderly, and this is a very family friendly neighborhood around here, so there are a lot of kids on bicycles and pedestrians," Jackson said.

Jackson thinks the extra safety measure is a good idea because of the high traffic of people on Pope Road.

A lot of people, they don't like to cross on State Road 312 to take you to the beach," Jackson said. "They will go down Pope Road instead."

There's no set date on when the new signal will be put up, but the city is hoping for sometime this year.