By Steve Plunkett
The Florida Department of Transportation will add buffered bike lanes to 1.3 miles of Federal Highway in downtown Boca Raton and create a new mid-block pedestrian crossing by Mizner Park just south of Plaza Real.
In a June 4 informational meeting at the Downtown Library, state officials outlined their plans for the estimated $5.5 million project, which is scheduled to start next summer and finish in the fall of 2027.
Federal Highway will lose one traffic lane each way — from three lanes to two — from Camino Real to Southeast Fifth Street/Southeast Mizner Boulevard to make room for 11-foot-wide paved sidewalks and 5-foot-wide bike lanes. That stretch currently has 6-foot-wide sidewalks and 4-foot-wide, unbuffered bike lanes. Bicyclists will be separated from motorists by 2 feet of raised concrete and 2 feet of sod; there will be 4 feet of sod between the bicyclists and the sidewalks.
From Southeast Fifth to Northeast Eighth Street/Northeast Mizner Boulevard — already only two lanes in each direction — construction crews will widen the roadway into part of the median to make room for the buffered bike lanes on the outside. A concrete wall will separate bicycles and traffic. The vehicle lanes will shrink from 11 feet wide to 10 feet 11 inches on the outside lane and only 10 feet on the inside. Sidewalks will remain 6 feet wide.
“I’m very, very excited to see the city’s first [improved] sidewalk and bicycle lanes that are going to go in. That’s going to be monumental. And I appreciate it and hope to see more of that within the city,” said Deputy Mayor Fran Nachlas, who attended the meeting.
Also in the plan are milling and resurfacing Federal Highway, drainage modifications and replacing the mast arm that holds the traffic signals on the east side of the Camino Real intersection.
The northbound Federal Highway left turn at East Camino Real will be modified from a single left turn lane to dual left turn lanes.
Throughout the project, signs and pavement markings will be upgraded to meet current standards and increase reflectivity, and green pavement markings will be added to enhance safety at bicycle-vehicular conflict areas, FDOT officials said.
The new midblock crossing south of Plaza Real will get upgraded decorative light poles to increase illumination.
As usual, work will be done in phases to reduce the impacts of construction on the community, temporary lane closures will be done during non-peak hours, and access to residences and businesses along with pedestrian traffic will be maintained during construction, the transportation officials said.
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