By Mary Hladky
Beachside residents, who have long pressed the city to improve East Palmetto Park Road between the Intracoastal Waterway and State Road A1A, finally have scored a win.
Boca Raton officials have agreed to install a crosswalk midway between Olive Way and Wavecrest Way equipped with pedestrian-activated flashing yellow lights that are intended to make it safer to cross the road.
The new road features will be added this fall, but will be temporary. That will allow city officials to evaluate how well they are working and make any needed adjustments.
Because that section of the road is owned by the county, the city cannot make unilateral decisions on changes. The temporary status allows the city to move forward while also seeking county approval to make the changes permanent.
The Riviera Civic Association, which represents the Riviera, Por La Mar and Sun and Surf neighborhoods and has pressed for roadway improvements since 2018, supports the city’s crosswalk plan.
“It may not be the perfect solution, but it is a good solution,” said civic association board member Keith Nelson. “Maybe the city could make it better, but for now we are happy to have a crosswalk.”
City staffers have resisted adding crosswalks and a traffic light, concluding in 2022 that they weren’t needed and actually would create safety hazards.
They also said that crosswalks would not change the behavior of pedestrians who now cross the road wherever they want — and noted that in the previous five years, no pedestrians or bicyclists were injured crossing the road and there was only one vehicle and bicyclist collision.
Beachside residents vowed not to concede defeat and found an ally in Boca Raton resident and County Commissioner Marci Woodward, who in 2023 offered the county’s help to improve the road.
Woodward said the county was willing to add a crosswalk and remove parking spaces on the road’s south side so that bicycle lanes could be added.
Soon after, city staffers said they would again consider improvements.
Yet beachside residents aren’t getting all they hoped for.
The city is not heeding their call for a second crosswalk and a traffic light. They also wanted a more ambitious makeover of that section of road that would include wider sidewalks and bicycle lanes.
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