By Mary Hladky
More than two years after backing an effort to improve a five-block section of East Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton City Council members are no closer to deciding how to make that happen.
After a consultant presented three options on Nov. 18, council members sidestepped a decision on which they preferred and instead said the matter needs more study.
“This is a dialogue that will continue,” said Mayor Scott Singer.
The first option presented by Alta Planning + Design principal Alia Awwad would not change the number of travel lanes but would eliminate some on-street parking so sidewalks could be widened and more landscaping added. Crosswalks also would be improved.
The second would eliminate one eastbound lane, also to allow wider sidewalks, more landscaping, shade trees and public art.
The third would eliminate one eastbound lane and one westbound lane.
Relaying an idea suggested by city residents, Awwad said the council could consider building a “Sun Line,” an elevated walkway and bikeway above the road’s median similar to New York City’s High Line.
Alta submitted data showing that residents are accurate when they complain that main downtown arteries are unsafe.
From 2018 through 2023, 1,868 crashes occurred in the downtown, with 28% on East Palmetto Park Road, 21% along Federal Highway and 15% on Dixie Highway. Six people died and 466 were injured.
While any of Alta’s proposed changes would make East Palmetto Park Road more attractive, there are trade-offs.
If the road remains as is, travel time between Northwest Second Avenue (Boca Raton Boulevard) to east of the Intracoastal Waterway drawbridge would increase by one minute in 20 years. If one eastbound lane is removed, travel time would increase by slightly less than two minutes.
But removing one lane in each direction would increase travel time by more than nine minutes.
“That is not sustainable,” Singer said.
Furthermore, the changes don’t take into account the fact that East Palmetto Park Road is a hurricane evacuation route. Consideration also has to be given to potential impacts on emergency vehicles.
Former Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke, who for years championed improving East Palmetto Park Road between Federal Highway and Northeast Fifth Avenue, became so exasperated by the lack of progress that, while still on the council in 2022, she formed an ad hoc group of about 15 influential residents — including land use attorney Ele Zachariades and architect Juan Caycedo — to offer their own ideas.
The group is named Workshop 344+, reflecting the 344 acres in the core downtown area. Members did not put forward a specific plan for the street but pressed the city to hire a consultant that would reimagine it. The city hired Alta.
Group members attended the Nov. 18 meeting to speak. But current Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker made it very clear that she did not want to hear a “rebuttal” from them, in part because they had already met with Alta staff.
After Council member Fran Nachlas, who chairs the Community Redevelopment Agency, said she had invited them, O’Rourke forged ahead, saying, “It’s not rebuttal. It is collaboration.”
She pressed the council to take action to improve walkability, connectivity and placemaking on the street and the rest of downtown.
While the group members do not have a specific proposal for East Palmetto Park Road, they generally favor reconfiguring it to have three lanes, one of which would accommodate emergency vehicles.
Council members did not respond.
“We thought there would be a collaborative conversation,” O’Rourke said after the meeting, “but that didn’t happen.”
The group plans to meet with other city organizations.
Comments