For more than 50 years, the stoplight merging of State Roads 26 and 27 in Newberry has marked the city as a one-stoplight town, a label usually identified with small-town Americana. 

The junction directs drivers from Gainesville, Trenton, High Springs and Archer through Newberry into the further reaches of Alachua County.  

But as of January 2026, Newberry’s stoplights have doubled and are set to triple by 2029. 

Last month, a stoplight at Newberry Road and Newberry Lane by the new Publix and Highland Park development started directing traffic. Highland Park’s 128 acres will bring a Wawa gas station, AutoZone and possibly Culver’s and Starbucks to Newberry. 

In two to three years, the city’s third stoplight is set to go where the new West Newberry Road two-way pair will meet SR 27 one block north of First Avenue, near Woodyard Grill.  

City Manager Jordan Marlowe talked with Mainstreet about why, after so many decades, Newberry is now adding stoplights, who’s paying for them, what changes they’ll bring to the existing roads and when they’ll be up and blinking. 

Growing out of one stoplight in such a short amount of time will be a big mental change for residents, Marlowe said. But he also believes the lights are a natural symptom of the city’s growth. 

“That first big step into your tomorrow is always the hardest one to take,” Marlowe said. “Who knows when the fourth light is coming?” 

Like how any developer is responsible for paying for stoplights necessitated by their developments, Marlowe said the Highland Park developer is paying for the Newberry Lane stoplight. 

He said the city can suggest features, like turn lanes and roundabouts, but ultimately the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) determines if a development needs a stoplight and where it should go. 

Marlowe said the new Publix was the first large-scale trigger of the stoplight. It was either going between County Road 235 or Newberry Lane, he said, and the state decided to put the light at Newberry Lane because CR 235 already has a caution light. The location also provided the most bang for the buck. 

“Stoplights are about $2 million,” he said. “So when you install a stoplight, you really want to get four lanes out of it.” 

Each new stoplight comes with a process of acclimation. Marlowe said that the process at Newberry Lane has been a learning curve for the city since stoplights are a newer endeavor. 

First, the new stoplight operated as a blinking caution light for 28 days. This aimed to help drivers adjust to seeing and responding to it. Then, the light was on a timer for about 14 days, turning red every two-and-a-half minutes even if it didn’t need to be red.  

The third and final stage transitioned the light to motion sensors detecting cars pulling up to Newberry Lane. 

Marlowe said that by early February, the light switched to motion sensors. It will be fully functional by July and, eventually, he said, it will be a blinking caution light from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. outside of peak traffic. 

As a fourth-generation Newberrian, Marlowe said he needs all the acclimation he can get. 

“I’ve been driving that road my entire life; there’s never been a stoplight there. I need to see there’s a blinking yellow light,” he said. “That gets me oriented that change is coming, 28 days to orient myself to that. If it stays green all the time, because Newberry Lane isn’t a highly trafficked road right now, then maybe I’m not used to watching for it to turn red.” 

Marlowe said the biggest physical change with the Newberry Lane light has been the turn lanes. 

Because the state no longer allows drivers to turn left at stoplights, the stoplight has turn lanes before and after it. Marlowe said the concept is confusing and controversial, and that Newberry opposed the decision through nine months of conversation with the state. 

However, he said the city hopes the state will allow a reduced speed limit from 50 to 45 miles per hour around the UF/IFAS Extension Alachua County facility to help drivers adjust to the light.  

In as soon as two years, Newberry is already planning for its third stoplight.  

Later this year, crews will break ground on 30 months of construction, building two-way pairs that Marlowe said FDOT is using to address bottleneck traffic in Newberry, a pass-through community for Levy, Gilchrist and Dixie Counties, and an evacuation route.  

What started as a five-to-six-year project in 2014 has since turned into 12. Marlowe said COVID-19 caused an 18-month delay, on top of project manager shuffling and design negotiations.  

The original plans called for straight two-lane roads, but Marlowe said the city wanted to make sure there was curvature to the road shape, sidewalks on both sides and on-street parking, all visual indicators that naturally slow drivers down. 

Once the stoplight is added and the pairs are finished, Marlowe said the city will need to hire extra crossing guards for west and eastbound Newberry Road. The state is funding the new light. 

“The state has really been a great partner on that project,” he said. “They’ve been very, very helpful, and they really have worked hard to make sure that it continues to, you know, sort of look and feel like a neighborhood road, not an interstate highway.” 

Marlowe said a change from one stoplight to three might be daunting for residents. He said the city wouldn’t need the lights if it didn’t have the Publix, Ellianos and other services that Newberry wouldn’t have if it were the same 2,500 people when he was growing up. 

But he said smaller cities, like High Springs and Alachua, already have numerous lights and, if Newberry wants to keep families in Newberry, it needs to grow with more jobs and opportunities. 

As growth tends to turn into a balancing act of building and waiting for development to pay for itself, Marlowe said there will always be tension between when infrastructure, like stoplights, is needed and when the infrastructure is built. 

“You have two options in life: you’re either growing, or you’re dying, right? There really is no ability to just sort of freeze time and stand still,” he said. “So, if we want our schools to stay in our community, if we want our taxes to be absorbed by more people, so that the increasing costs of construction are not being shared by the same 5,000 people, the same 6,000 people, you need that growth.” 

Marlowe encourages residents and drivers to stay up to date on stoplight additions and transitions by following his and Newberry’s social media accounts and enrolling in the city’s new text alert system. Anyone can text Newberry to 91896 to subscribe to the alerts.  

All developments across the city can also be followed using the SeeClickFix app. After downloading the app, users can search Newberry to find projects.