Two Boca residents examine aerial photos of the troubled intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Fifth Avenue.
Sallie James/The Coastal Star
By Sallie James
Lower the speed limit. Seize property for turning lanes through eminent domain. Eliminate U-turns. Restore bicycle lanes.
Those were just a few suggestions Boca Raton residents had for traffic consultants during a standing-room-only workshop last month to discuss the congested intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Northeast/Southeast Fifth Avenue.
Nearly 100 concerned residents flocked to the community room of the downtown library to offer suggestions and meet with traffic consultants. And those in attendance had a lot to say.
“The corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road is dangerous,” said resident Kevin Meaney. “I’ve almost been killed on my bike, on foot and in my car.”
Meaney wants the turning lanes at the heavily trafficked intersection restored and Fifth Avenue widened by adding extra space on the southeast corner through eminent domain.
Those in attendance divided into small groups and marked their concerns on huge aerial photos showing the intersection and nearby neighborhoods. Residents also itemized their ideas on poster-sized lists that were turned over to the traffic consultants for consideration.
Both sides left the nearly three-hour-long meeting hopeful that progress had been made.
“This is great input. This is what we are looking for,” said Rasem Awwad, city traffic operations engineer. “It was certainly a big turnout. There was a lot of interesting input.”
The intersection is already too narrow and congested to adequately accommodate existing traffic. North/south bicycle lanes on Northeast Fifth Avenue taper into non-existence on the intersection’s north side at Palmetto Park Road, forcing cyclists into the traffic lanes because the roadway is too narrow.
The Trattoria Romano restaurant on the northwest corner of the intersection also creates traffic tie-ups when valets and restaurant patrons block traffic as they attempt to turn in and pull out of the restaurant parking lot on Northeast Fifth Avenue.
Adding to the problem are intermittent backups created when the Palmetto bridge to the east goes up to allow the passage of boat traffic.
Meaney and other residents wondered if the traffic consultants realized that a nearby Publix grocery store at Federal Highway at Northeast Fifth Avenue was currently closed for remodeling and that shoppers were going elsewhere right now.
Residents from 427 homes in the Riviera Homeowners Association and thousands of others who live in beachside condos are not shopping there right now, residents said.
“Their experts missed that,” said Por La Mar resident Keith Nelson. “Everyone is going to Camino and Federal to the other Publix to shop.”
Resident Tony Puerta, who lives in the Golden Triangle, said the northeast corner turning radius needs to be improved to make the intersection safer.
“Westbound cars on Palmetto block the road and cause traffic to back up, so if there was a right-turn lane it would ease the problem,” Puerta predicted. Like Meaney, he wants the city to acquire additional property on the southeast corner of the intersection through eminent domain.
Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie, who attended the workshop, said eminent domain is one possible way to fix the intersection gridlock.
“It is a potential process for adding new lanes,” Haynie conceded. That land is owned by Cal Haddad, who also owns Fifth Avenue Place on the intersection’s northwest corner.
Resident Les Wilson, who lives on the western edge of downtown, expressed concern that new development might impede beach access.
Wilson wants the city to eliminate the traffic light at Fifth Avenue and East Palmetto Park Road and route traffic under the bridge or up a few blocks to the west.
Resident Mike DeLuca, who lives walking distance from the intersection, said the crosswalks in the area are dangerous and need to be marked better.
“I want to know if there is any way to make them safer,” DeLuca said. He was pleased the city reached out to residents.
“I got to communicate my concerns. We’ll see if anything happens but at least I got someone to listen,” DeLuca said.
Consultant Richard Cannone of Calvin, Giordano & Associates Inc. pronounced the workshop a success.
“It went extremely well. We encouraged the residents to look at the aerials and find out where they live, and talk about some of the problems they encounter and some possible solutions,” Cannone said.
Eric Czerniejewski, director of traffic engineering for the same consulting firm, said the consultants will review the suggestions and concerns, analyze the data they collected and present their findings to City Council members at a future workshop.
“I think we got a lot of good ideas,” Czerniejewski said.
Ideas submitted at workshop
• Consider lowering speed limit on Fifth Avenue
• No four lanes on Fifth Avenue
• Put medians on Fifth Avenue
• No more valet parking on sidewalk at northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road
• Use eminent domain for more lanes on the southwest corner
• Put three lanes heading north on the south side of Palmetto Park Road
• Shorten median on west side of intersection
• Explore pedestrian/car conflict (left- and right-turn lanes through crosswalk)
• Retake traffic counts in January
• Create deterrent for cut-through traffic to US 1
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