By John Pacenti
With the Florida Department of Transportation starting to repave East Ocean Avenue in March, Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh wanted to make sure FDOT officials were aware of flooding on the road — especially during king tides.
The $1.3 million project will repave Ocean Avenue from Federal Highway to State Road A1A and will stretch late into this year. It will include milling and repaving, upgrading signage, adding LED lighting, and improving pavement markings for motorists and bicyclists, said FDOT spokeswoman Silvana Ojeda.
Pugh said at the March 3 Town Commission meeting that his concern is that FDOT already doesn’t maintain a 36-inch pipe that feeds storm water to the Intracoastal Waterway.
“When that happens, during these king tides, and that thing is not cleaned out, it floods the whole road,” he said.
When FDOT mills the road for asphalt, it’s going to be even lower by 4 to 6 inches, “So we will have even more water on the road,” Pugh said.
Tuck Lee, the design project manager, said the 190-day contract builds into it weather delays. Furthermore, the milling will be followed by the repaving before that section is reopened to traffic. Only one lane will be closed at any one time.
Pugh’s additional concern was noise, especially after 5 p.m. “You can’t be milling at night next to these homeowners that are right there,” he said.
The plan currently is to mill during the day and pave at night, Lee told the commission.
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