'It's not safe': Palm Beach officials, residents ask DeSantis to intervene in A1A widening project

The Citizens' Association of Palm Beach has joined town officials in asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to intervene in a plan to widen a portion of South Ocean Boulevard in the town's South End and expand a nearby recreation path.

Calling the Florida Department of Transportation plan unsafe, the association's leadership is urging its member buildings to write letters to the governor asking him to limit the project to milling and resurfacing the present roadway at its current width, and rebuilding the pedestrian path with limited widening and lengthening.

"This plan doesn't work," said Citizens' Association of Palm Beach Co-Chairman Donald Singer, whose organization has opposed the plan since it was presented to the council last spring. "We need to fight that. It makes no sense whatever."

The proposed FDOT plan includes widening a 1.7-mile stretch of South Ocean Boulevard between Lake Avenue and Ibis Way, and expanding the nearby recreation path.

Related:Mayor highlights issues important to South End residents during Citizens' Association address

As part of the original plan, the paved portion of the existing shoulders on each side of the road would be widened from 3 feet to 5 feet in order to accommodate a bicycle lane, while the paved pedestrian pathway on the west side of the road would be expanded from 6 feet wide to 10 feet.

Council members and residents objected to both parts of the proposal, particularly the creation of a new bicycle lane they say would not be continuous to the north and likely could not be extended at any point in the future considering the limited space north of Sloan's Curve.

"I question the wisdom of a bike lane that all of a sudden drops you off at one of the most dangerous curves in town," council member Ted Cooney said last spring. "Bicyclists would no longer be protected."

Last summer, FDOT agreed to remove the proposed widening of the pedestrian pathway on the west side of A1A after receiving feedback from residents and a letter from Mayor Danielle Moore, but the agency planned to move forward with expanding the roadway for a new bike lane.

"The fact that there are not proper bicycle accommodations in the corridor today needsto be addressed," John Olson, an FDOT design engineer, wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to the town.

In response, the council authorized Moore to send another letter to the DOT asking that if the agency moved forward with widening the road, that it would not mark it as a bike lane.

The letter, which was sent in December, also asked the DOT to mill and resurface the existing recreation path.

"While the town applauds FDOT's intent to accommodate cyclists on their roadways, the town does not support the widening of the roadway between South Lake Avenue and North Ibis Way," Moore wrote. "There is no safe opportunity to extend the bike lane continuously beyond Ibis Way any time in the future.

"The road right-of-way just north of Ibis Way narrows and has a significant curve known as Sloan's Curve that will never accommodate a bike lane. Therefore, there is no opportunity to make this a safe thoroughfare for bikes."

Citizens' Association of Palm Beach members share those concerns, Singer said.

Members are writing letters to Moore to voice their support for her and the council's opposition to the project, and also are writing letters to the governor asking him to intervene.

"We're enlisting all of our membership and we're enlisting our public officials to speak out against this," Singer said. "We need to change this entire project. It's not safe."

The project is part of an effort by the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency and FDOT to increase bicycle and pedestrian safety along the A1A corridor between Boca Raton and Jupiter.

A study commissioned by the TPA in 2017 recommended wider traffic lanes, the addition of bicycle lanes, and wider pedestrian paths along that stretch of roadway.

The TPA has requested that the proposed bicycle and pedestrian improvements to A1A in Palm Beach be implemented as part of the FDOT project, Public Works Director Paul Brazil told the council last spring. There are no current plans for any further extensions.

Singer said he and other Citizens' Association members plan to speak Tuesday at a public meeting hosted by FDOT at which the agency's plans for improvements to A1A between Emerald Beach Way to Royal Palm Way will be discussed.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 360 South County Road. It will be offered in person and in a virtual format. For information, visit www.townofpalmbeach.com.

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: Palm Beach asks DeSantis to intervene in A1A road widening project