Controlling traffic is a high priority as construction trucks and workers have to share the road with parents lined up to gather their students at the end of a day of classes at Gulf Stream School. Gulf Stream Police Officer Todd Stanton and Michael Alford of Roadway Construction manage traffic while another worker crosses a metal plate in the road in front of the school on April 25. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Steve Plunkett
Polo Drive has become the new route for the morning rush to drop off kids at the Gulf Stream School.
Phase 2 of Gulf Stream’s comprehensive makeover of the Core District’s roads officially began April 21, the day after Easter, with construction crews moving to the streets east of almost-complete Polo and with new traffic instructions for parents of students.
While student pickup is the same as before, parents dropping off children have been asked to enter the Core District via Golfview Drive, then travel Polo north to Old School Road and the school’s entrance. A police officer is stationed at the intersection of Old School and Gulfstream Road to direct cars into the school’s usual south driveway.
The revised traffic pattern, which diverts vehicles from Gulfstream Road where most of the Phase 2 construction will take place, “is working very well,” Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said.
“We are happy to report that the contractor is making progress and we anticipate fewer difficulties for Phase 2 as we get underway at the end of the season into the summer,” he said.
Barring bad weather and other unforeseen problems, this stage of construction is expected to last 10 months, or until late February 2026. Town officials originally hoped to wrap up the whole project in December. Phase 1 began in April 2024 but quickly stalled while contractor Roadway Associates LLC waited for a permit from the South Florida Water Management District.
Baxter and Woodman Consulting Engineers, which is managing the project, issued the contractor a Certificate of Substantial Completion on April 22 along with a punch list of 60 items such as repairing sprinkler lines and leveling mailboxes.
For the week ending May 2, Roadway planned to install new water and drainage utilities on Gulfstream Road between Golfview Drive and Lakeview Drive and on Lakeview between Polo Drive and Gulfstream.
Phase 2 is expected to proceed more quickly because most of the piping will be in the right of way next to the asphalt instead of under it.
Phase 1 consisted of Polo Drive and the finger roads to its west. Besides the punch list items, it will get a final lift of asphalt once Phase 2 is finished.
The entire water main, drainage and road project in the Core District is budgeted at $13 million.
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