FDOT to roll out three ideas
Trying to catch up with massive construction and deal with future growth in Palm Beach Gardens, traffic engineers say they have a 20-year plan for Interstate 95 and a central-west intersection.
Florida Department of Transportation officials explained it Thursday at Palm Beach Gardens City Hall. They talked about the upcoming projects at Central, Northlake and PGA Boulevards and at the intersection of the Beeline Highway and Northlake during the workshop.
No construction will begin until 2021, they said.
Palm Beach Gardens residents questioned a timeline that could have Northlake and Beeline and the Northlake and I-95 interchange under construction at the same time.
Here’s a look at some of the key spots that will undergo changes:
NORTHLAKE AND BEELINE
FDOT quashed plans for a flyover at the intersection of Northlake and the Beeline Highway amid complaints from PGA National residents. Instead, engineers plan to build a new connector road through a triangular property between Northlake and the Beeline, Project Manager Donovan Pessoa said.
All left-turns will be outside the intersection using the connector road, Pessoa said.
WATCH: How traffic will flow at Northlake and Beeline after changes
Sheldon Rich, the president of the Marlwood Home Owners Association in PGA National, said the new proposal is “much less objectionable” than the flyover and will help keep the housing values high.
But residents of Steeplechase aren’t happy.
Tracy Nemerofsky said a truck went off Beeline a few years ago, through a wall and into her backyard, killing her dog. Her three young children play baseball, soccer and football there.
She and her neighbors said they’re worried the changes will only make matters worse.
“We don’t want the noise and the mess. The safety – it’s all an issue to us,” she said.
The work will require permitting through environmentally-sensitive land and over the CSX railroad tracks, an obstacle Pessoa acknowledged. He said he knows the department probably will get push-back but will do what’s necessary to proceed.
FDOT expects the project to cost $79.5 million, including the cost of taking out the bridges over Florida’s Turnpike and rebuilding them to accommodate the changes. If there are no delays, the contract will be awarded in July 2021 and construction could start in January 2022, Pessoa said.
With the changes, the intersection is expected to handle traffic for another 20 years. If it fails because of new development, it’s back to the flyover, Pessoa said.
“It’s not like we have more room to grow,” he said. “The footprint of the road can only get so big.”
Business owners and residents of the neighborhood off Sunrise Drive were worried FDOT plans for dramatic changes to the I-95 interchange would force them out. But the department made adjustments that should help, Project Manager Scott Thurman said.
“I don’t expect any of the properties to be affected to the point where they have to move,” Thurman said.
The typical section of Northlake Boulevard will be eight lanes. The design now calls for more through-lanes on Northlake Boulevard from Military Trail to Sunrise and Sandtree Drives, wider off ramps and extended on ramps, Thurman said. Both off ramps will have triple left and right turns, he said.
The larger off ramps will provide more space so traffic doesn’t back up onto the highway, he said.
The modified design reduced the lanes to 11 feet to minimize the footprint, and the bike lanes FDOT is adding will be 4 feet wide instead of the standard seven, Thurman said. Typical lanes are 11 to 12 feet wide but can be up to 14 feet in some cases, he said.
The department plans to improve the sidewalks and lighting.
The cost is about $52 million, including $16 million to acquire additional right-of-way, Thurman said. Construction could start in July 2021 and will take three or four years. The interchange will be able to handle traffic through 2040, taking into account new development such as Avenir, Thurman said.
There still will be some congestion, but “major congestion won’t be rampant throughout this corridor,” he said.
FDOT plans to build a new interchange at Central Boulevard, between PGA and Donald Ross. Officials’ preferred design is a collector road that leads cars onto a typical urban interchange, Project Manager Bing Wang said. The collector road will parallel the highway.
Cars getting off the highway will exit to a signalized intersection, where they can turn onto Central Boulevard.
The Central Boulevard bridge over I-95 could expand to include two travel lanes, two left-turn lanes, a 7-foot buffered bike lane and an enclosed sidewalk in each direction. A study suggested there be noise barriers at The Quaye apartments, Winchester Court and Garden Lakes.
Construction won’t start before July 2022, Wang said. FDOT likely will still need to get right-of-way from entities including Palm Beach County, Old Palm, the Paloma Homeowners Association and Central Gardens.
The cost of the project, including getting the right-of-way is $41.8 million.
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