spanish river - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T02:07:54Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/spanish+riverBoca Raton: Work on Spanish River interchange almost 2 months behindhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-work-on-spanish-river-interchange-almost-2-months-behi2017-08-30T13:31:23.000Z2017-08-30T13:31:23.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960734698,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960734698,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960734698?profile=original" /></a></strong><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960734698,original{{/staticFileLink}}"></a>A worker cuts grooves into the surface of one of the Spanish River interchange’s many spans. All 13 of the project’s bridges have been constructed. <strong>Photo courtesy of Florida Department of Transportation</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br /> The Spanish River interchange being built on Interstate 95 fell seven weeks behind schedule in only three months this summer.<br /> The latest delay means Florida Atlantic University’s Owls will be three-fourths the way through the fall football season when the interchange opens, now scheduled no sooner than early November. One of the benefits promised by the project is easier access to and from FAU Stadium.<br /> No construction work is done on football weekends with games at home.<br /> At the start of May the project was expected to take 1,503 days. By Aug. 4 the time was extended to 1,551 days, or 48 days extra.<br /> “Daily rain and inclement weather … has significantly affected the contract duration as there are many ongoing operations that are heavily weather-dependent,” Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Andi Pacini said.<br /> There are no incentives in the contract for finishing the project early or disincentives if construction takes longer, Pacini said.<br /> Workers are widening eastbound Yamato Road, forcing El Rio Trail to undergo round-the-clock detours through Sept. 14. Bicyclists who want to use Yamato Road must do so via Spanish River Boulevard. El Rio Trail access to Yamato Road from the Tri-Rail east exit is closed; pedestrian access to Yamato Road from the trail and the Tri-Rail station is via the west Tri-Rail exit.<br /> In September crews also plan to continue grinding and grooving bridges, do final paving on I-95 and the ramps, and plant landscaping.<br /> During the summer, workers opened the new westbound Spanish River Boulevard bridge over I-95, completed bridge work on Yamato Road and finished building earth-retaining walls for the project’s numerous ramps.<br /> Work on the $69 million interchange was more than 96 percent complete at the start of September. Crews started work in January 2014. The Spanish River interchange will be Boca Raton’s fifth entrance/exit on I-95. <br /> As construction continues, the interstate between Glades Road and Congress Avenue may have up to three lanes closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays. The project area is 2.5 miles long.</p></div>Boca Raton: Library’s backpack program helps kids get ready to readhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-library-s-backpack-program-helps-kids-get-ready-to-rea2016-06-01T14:21:43.000Z2016-06-01T14:21:43.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960663669,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960663669,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" alt="7960663669?profile=original" /></a><em>The Early Literacy Backpack program is giving Suzanne Endruschat’s daughter, Maggie, 4,</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>a head start on developing her reading skills.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo provided</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By April W. Klimley<br /></strong><br /> Maggie Endruschat just turned 4, but she’s already getting ready to read — and enjoying it — says her mother, Suzanne, thanks to Boca Raton Public Library’s new Early Literacy Backpack program launched in April.<br /> The libraries offer 12 backpacks that parents can borrow: six at the downtown branch, six at Spanish River. Each backpack is filled with books, toys, educational puzzles and even puppets and stuffed animals. <br /> The idea is to help children up to 5 years old become familiar with the concepts of reading — such as the alphabet, phonics and storytelling — and thus prepare them for learning to read in kindergarten. <br /> The themes of the backpacks range from the basic ABCs and numbers to pets, bears, toys and bugs. The program is based on the six skills identified by the American Library Association for successful reading readiness: print motivation, print awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, phonological awareness and narrative skills.<br /> “All the backpacks were checked out in about a week,” says Amanda Liebl, the library’s youth programs director. Liebl says that many parents found out about the program during story time for their tots. Now there is a waiting list. <br /> Maggie has already gone through the ABC and Number backpacks, so she was ready for new themes, according to her mom. The bear backpack is based on the popular folktale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It contains a stuffed bear, several board books, a puzzle in a frame, a lacing card and laminated sheet with pictures of the three bears story.<br /> Suzanne Endruschat, who works in accounts services for the library, says Maggie has enjoyed all the backpacks so far. And now, with the bear backpack, her little girl has started telling the three bears story herself. Maggie points to different pictures on the laminated story sheet as she tells the story to her mother.<br /> Lynne Holloway, collection services librarian, observes that the backpack program is not just for the children. “It’s for the parents, too,” says Holloway. “The backpacks give guidance to the parents or caregivers.” They enable adults to learn new ways to help their children become “reading-ready,” whether or not the children also attend a day care program where they might be learning these skills as well. <br /> Endruschat also believes the backpacks benefit parents. “I do think the backpacks are really fun for her,” she says. “But they also give me ideas on how to do other things with her. It makes you think of ways you can engage your child to enrich the stories you tell. It’s all about engaging your kids.”<br /> A further appeal of the backpack program may be the packaging itself. “The tinier kids see the big kids carrying backpacks for school,” says Endruschat. “So part of the appeal is the ‘big kid’ feel of the backpack.”<br /> For more information about the Early Literacy Backpack program, visit <a href="http://www.bocalibrary.org">www.bocalibrary.org</a>.</p></div>Boca Raton: Interchange at I-95 and Spanish River promises to spur development and traffichttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-interchange-at-i-95-and-spanish-river-promises-to-spur2013-09-04T15:28:45.000Z2013-09-04T15:28:45.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><b>By Steve Plunkett </b></p>
<p> Ground hasn’t been broken yet, but the long-awaited Interstate 95 interchange on Spanish River Boulevard already has attracted development that someday will generate 13,300 trips per day. </p>
<p> Boca Raton City Council members approved a new “planned mobility” zoning category Aug. 27 for nearly 78 undeveloped acres next to the planned interchange. The parcel had been zoned for 239 single-family homes; the mixed-use rezoning dubbed University Village will allow 420 apartments, each about 1,000 square feet; 252,000 square feet of retail; 126,000 square feet of office space; and 42,000 square feet of civic uses. </p>
<p> The retail can include three businesses between 15,000 and 25,000 square feet and one business between 25,000 and 45,000 square feet. </p>
<p> Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie asked to double a 50-foot landscape buffer between any development and neighbors along Northwest Fifth Avenue and other streets whose property backed up to the acreage. She also proposed “decisional criteria” to enable the City Council to direct where any tall buildings might go.</p></div>