'We need this data': Facing clogged roads, Palm Beach officials OK traffic, parking study

As residents become increasingly vocal about the amount of gridlock on the town's roadways, a Miami-based traffic engineering consultant has been hired to conduct a comprehensive traffic engineering and parking study of Palm Beach beginning this month.

At its meeting Feb. 14, the Town Council approved a purchase order worth $330,795 to The Corradino Group to administer the study, which will gather data for the town to review as it works to address parking scarcity and traffic congestion on the island.

As part of the study, The Corradino Group will review the traffic impact of existing restaurants in the town's commercial area, evaluate the existing parking supply in the commercial area, and review the origin and destination of the traffic traveling into the commercial area on a daily basis.

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The study is expected to take about eight months to complete, said Joe Corradino, principal of The Corradino Group. Work will begin immediately.

“We will collect data, do analysis, and figure out where you have real traffic and parking issues,” Joe Corradino told council members.

The town has budgeted $363,875 for the study, which will include traffic, streetlight and parking data collection; a traffic analysis that includes intersection capacity, valet parking, commercial parking and trip generation comparison; and an analysis of existing and future parking deficiencies.

Once the study is complete, Corradino will make recommendations to the council on ways to improve traffic and parking contingencies, starting with lower-impact policy and management changes and then moving to operational or structural changes.

Corradino said he would start with the least intrusive recommendations for the town.

"If we can work our way out of the problem with management, whether it be parking or traffic, we would recommend those, because they're less costly," he told council members. "If you need to rebuild intersections, then those would be down the line. I would suggest with selecting the least-intrusive methods first, and then moving up to construction."

Mayor Danielle Moore said she was glad to see a valet parking operational analysis included in the scope of the study.

As part of that analysis, The Corradino Group will perform field observations at three restaurant valet drop-off and pick-up areas within the town's commercial areas.

The town will select the existing restaurants where valet parking counts will be collected, Corradino said. The Corradino Group then will work to identify issues related to existing operations and traffic patterns at those locations.

"I’m glad to see the valet parking operational analysis because I think that’s key to everything else," Moore said. "My concerns are the valets aren’t going where they’re supposed to."

Council member Ted Cooney was the lone dissenting vote in the 4-1 decision to approve the traffic engineering and parking study.

He said he was skeptical of traffic studies, and he pointed to previous studies conducted by the town that resulted in proposals that “no reasonable person or resident would find acceptable,” he said.

“We’re a skinny narrow island that’s built out, and there’s nowhere to do a lot of traditional solutions," he said.

Corradino told Cooney that he and his group would reach out and meet with officials "before we put the unreasonable solutions on the table and make sure we call them out."

The traffic engineering and parking study also will include an evaluation of structured parking in the town. Funding for that portion of the study is expected to be approved next month.

"This study needs to get done," Council President Maggie Zeidman said. "It may be costly, but we’re in a new era. We need this data."

Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Clogged roads spur Palm Beach officials to fund traffic, parking study