Palm Beach County Engineer David Ricks led an annual update on the five-year road program at the Palm Beach County Commission meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 7. The update included adjustments to project funding for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
The five-year road program sets forth road projects to be funded, designed and constructed over the next five years. Funding sources include impact fees, proportionate share contributions, gas taxes, infrastructure sales taxes, FDOT agreements and other agreements.
“We are proposing an overall program of $244 million, which is a drop from a year ago, which was $292 million,” Ricks said.
Projects planned for the central western communities include a corridor amendment study for Northlake Blvd. from Bay Hill Drive to State Road 7 at a cost of $350,000.
Several projects on 60th Street North include the four-laning of about 2.7 miles from Seminole Pratt Whitney Road to 140theAvenue North in 2026, the three-laning of 0.8 miles west of 140th Avenue to Avocado Blvd. in 2022 at a cost of $500,000, and the three-laning of 1.6 miles from Avocado Blvd. to east of 120th Avenue North in 2023 at a cost of $6 million.
“Our long-term vision is to make 60th Street an east-and-west corridor,” Ricks said. “We originally got, with the commission’s approval, a section of right of way along 60th Street, so now we have all the right of way we need, so we will be seeking grants to construct the remaining section.”
Coconut Blvd. is scheduled to have 1.3 miles five-laned from south of 78th Place North to south of Northlake Blvd. in 2024 at a cost of $3.3 million.
County Road 880 is scheduled for rehabilitation and maintenance from Belle Glade to 20-Mile Bend at a cost of $1 million per year over the next five years, while Sam Senter Road over the South Florida Water Management District Ocean Canal intersection improvements and bridge replacement is scheduled in 2023 at a cost of $2.5 million, and bridge replacement over the C-51 Canal is scheduled in 2022 at a cost of $4.5 million.
Okeechobee Blvd. in Loxahatchee Groves is scheduled for a multi-use trail and roundabout from A Road to Folsom Road at a cost of $793,000 in 2022 and $2.7 million in 2024.
Royal Palm Beach Blvd. is scheduled for five-laning of 1.1 miles north of Persimmon Blvd. to north of the M Canal in 2022 at a cost of $500,000 in 2022 and $3 million in 2025. Also included is the five-laning of one mile from the M Canal to south of Orange Blvd. at a cost of $6 million in 2022 and the five-laning of 1.6 miles south of Orange Blvd. to south of 78th Place North in 2022 at a cost of $400,000.
Ricks added that staff will be conducting a study of the potential widening of Northlake Blvd. from six to eight lanes.
“There are several concerns expressed by the community,” he said. “We expect to have the study started this spring and finished by late summer. We will be seeking public involvement as part of the study.”
Ricks added that after a tragic accident on the Beeline Highway at the railroad crossing to the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area where a Wellington grandmother and her two grandchildren were killed, the county has implemented a program to enhance warnings at all crossings along the highway.
Commissioner Melissa McKinlay made a motion to approve the five-year report, which carried 7-0.
