ALSO IN THE WORKS: Highland Beach is seeking state funds to install embedded lights on its A1A crosswalks, like this one in Deerfield Beach. The lights activate when a pedestrian pushes a button before crossing. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
Highland Beach is hoping the Florida Legislature will send $750,000 its way, with a lot of the money going to fix a problem it says the state created during its State Road A1A construction project.
In November, the town submitted a request for the funds to the legislature, hoping to use $300,000 to install embedded lights in the eight crosswalks on A1A — with the rest of the money going to resurface and raise the town’s 3-mile sidewalk.
The A1A project started almost a year and a half ago and is months behind schedule. But with the completion near, Town Manager Marshall Labadie says water sometimes floods the sidewalk because the surface of the highway has been raised too high, creating a safety problem.
Pedestrians are forced to walk on the shoulder to the traffic lane or the edge of the roadway, an area that is used by bicyclists and motorists.
“It’s a confluence of different kinds of users on a roadway that isn’t built for that,” he said.
In addition, Labadie said there are sections of the sidewalk that Florida Department of Transportation contractors improved but other sections that were not touched.
“The town may replace the whole sidewalk and move it up to standards,” he said.
The town manager said raising the sidewalk would keep water coming off the road in the swales.
“The goal is to reduce flooding on the walking path during smaller and more frequent rain events,” he said.
At least one town commissioner said raising the sidewalk may not be enough.
Commissioner Jason Chudnofsky said he supports the town’s request for the allocation but is not sure swales will be able to handle water from heavy rains coming off the raised road and the raised sidewalk at the same time.
“I would like to have an engineer come and tell me how this is going to solve the problem,” he said.
Chudnofsky believes if the swales are full, residents will be forced to walk in the shared portion of the road or in the water if bicyclists are using the 5-foot-wide bike lane.
“There’s something wrong with that,” he said.
Labadie said the town will be matching the $450,000 to address the sidewalk issue if state funding comes through.
The town manager said he hopes the town will be able to add embedded lighting to the town’s eight pedestrian crosswalks if the appropriation is approved. If the state doesn’t approve the funding, the town could consider funding the project on its own.
The town has already installed pedestrian-activated flashing signs at the crosswalks with lights that shine on the crosswalks. The embedded lights, also pedestrian activated, would add one more alert to motorists that a pedestrian is using the crosswalk.
Labadie said the town would wait until the A1A construction project is finished before installing the lights.
FDOT officials say the project is scheduled to be completed sometime in December, a number of months later than the original target completion date of this past summer.
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