ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida — A 66-year-old St. Augustine woman was struck and killed by a van as she tried to cross U.S. 1 just north of Brainard Drive on Monday evening, November 9, the Florida Highway Patrol said. The crash happened at 6:12 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene. FHP did not name her in its release, and said her next of kin had been notified.
Source: Florida Highway Patrol release via St. Johns Citizen, Nov 9, 2026
The Highway Patrol's traffic log shows how the evening unfolded for drivers. The fatal crash, logged as involving a pedestrian, was reported at 6:17 p.m., troopers were dispatched about two minutes later, and all northbound lanes of U.S. 1 at Brainard Drive were blocked. Shortly before 7:30 p.m. the northbound lanes were still listed as blocked, and when FHP issued its fuller report the road remained closed with traffic being diverted.
Source: Florida Highway Patrol traffic log via St. Johns Citizen, Nov 9, 2026
According to troopers, the van was travelling north when its front right side struck the woman as she crossed the highway. The driver, a 68-year-old man from Palm Coast, was not injured. FHP's release did not say the driver was cited, and no charges were announced in the reports published on Monday night. The St. Johns Citizen's scene photograph showed FHP troopers and St. Johns County deputies working the closed stretch of U.S. 1 just north of Brainard Drive.
What officials have — and have not — said
What is established is narrow, and this report keeps it that way. FHP has established the time, the place, the direction of the van, the point of impact on the vehicle, the ages and home cities of the two people involved, and that the woman's family has been notified. FHP has not released her name, has not said whether she was in a marked crosswalk, has not described lighting or speed, and has not announced any finding on fault. A separate headline listing by News4JAX (WJXT) described the vehicle as a mail truck; FHP's own release, the primary document, calls it a van, and this report follows FHP.
As of Monday night, the Florida Highway Patrol had announced no charges and no determination of fault in the U.S. 1 crash. The investigation is continuing. Anyone reporting this crash should not state a cause that troopers have not announced.
U.S. 1 through St. Augustine: a corridor with a recent pedestrian toll
U.S. 1 — Ponce de Leon Boulevard through St. Augustine — is the city's old north–south highway: a wide, fast, multi-lane arterial lined with shops, motels and side streets, carrying both through-traffic between Jacksonville and Palm Coast and local drivers turning in and out of businesses. Brainard Drive sits on that commercial stretch in St. Johns County, south of the historic centre. For people on foot, roads of this design are the hardest to cross — several lanes, turning traffic and long distances between signals.
Monday's death is not the corridor's first this year. On October 19, a pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck on North Ponce de Leon Boulevard at West San Carlos Avenue, with St. Augustine police responding and northbound lanes temporarily closed, according to a St. Johns County news summary citing Action News Jax. And on July 8, a 64-year-old woman riding a motorized scooter was killed at State Road 16 and U.S. 1 in St. Augustine, in a crash FHP investigated. Those are separate incidents at separate locations, listed here as context for the corridor's safety record — not as evidence about what happened at Brainard Drive.
The timing matters for visibility, without proving anything about this crash: in mid-November in northeast Florida, a 6:12 p.m. crash happens after sunset, in darkness. Road-safety agencies routinely urge drivers to slow down and scan crossings after dark and urge pedestrians to use marked crossings and make themselves visible — general guidance that troopers repeat after fatal pedestrian crashes on U.S. 1, and that applies to commuters and truck drivers passing through St. Johns County on Monday nights as much as to anyone else.
What happens next is in the Highway Patrol's hands. FHP's investigation will establish the sequence of the collision; the woman's name may be released in a later update now that her next of kin have been notified; and troopers will decide whether any citation or charge follows. The initial log promised updates as new information becomes available. For drivers, the immediate lesson from Monday evening is the closure itself: a single pedestrian crash shut all northbound lanes of the county's main highway for well over an hour at the start of the evening.