Palm Beach's search for traffic solutions takes the spotlight at town hall forum

Yahoo

21-02-2025

Palm Beach officials have sent out a survey to local businesses to gauge interest for a town-wide shuttle service for town employees and the employees of local businesses.
A shuttle service was among the potential policies and actions to combat traffic discussed Tuesday during "Moving Forward: Traffic Solutions 33480," a public forum co-sponsored by the town and the Palm Beach Civic Association.
That list includes restriping of Bradley Place between its intersections with Royal Poinciana Way and Sunrise Avenue, raising the threshold of Palm Beach's "town-serving" requirement for businesses and a temporary mortarium on single-family residences and certain building additions, Town Manager Kirk Blouin said.
But he cautioned that residents interested in the shuttle idea should temper their optimism.
'Frankly, I'd be surprised that the demand is there, because people aren't going to do that unless it improves their workday,' Blouin said during the forum at Town Hall.
Joining Blouin on Tuesday's panel were Palm Beach Police Chief Nicholas Caristo, Public Works Director Paul Brazil, town attorney Joanne O'Connor and Planning, Zoning and Building Director Wayne Bergman, with Civic Association CEO Michael Pucillo serving as moderator.
Staff also spoke about the policies already enacted, with Blouin highlighting the temporary changes made to the hours for to landscapers and construction workers.
In December, Town Council voted to change landscape hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with the first 30 minutes limited to quiet work. On Feb. 11, the council voted to change the construction hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the first hour limited to quiet work.
'So, in concept, if they are able to get on the island before the peak rush hours in the morning or leave after the peak rush hours in the afternoon, it should have some effect on the traffic,' he said. 'It may be small, but we're looking at everything.'
The town also has rescheduled town capital improvement projects that could negatively impact traffic, senior project engineer Julie Parham said. She said residents can head to the "Planned Traffic Impacts" page on the town's website to view a map and schedule of upcoming town projects.
Those changes came after Palm Beach recorded its largest recent uptick in the yearly growth of traffic. Kimley-Horn transportation engineer Adam Kerr said the rate of growth increased from a five-year average of 2.7% to 6.3% in the last year.
That amounted to roughly 60,000 cars coming to and from the island every day, Kerr said. That translates to about 19,000 daily trips on Flagler Memorial Bridge, 27,000 daily trips on the Royal Park Bridge and 12,500 daily trips on the Southern Boulevard Bridge, he said.
While Blouin emphasized that the town's traffic woes were caused by a range of factors, he said the two most impactful factors have been bridge openings, and the U.S. Secret Service's mandated closure of South Ocean Boulevard while the President Donald Trump is at Mar-a-Lago.
He noted that while the Coast Guard controls the bridges leading into town, Mayor Danielle Moore had successfully lobbied to reduce bridge openings from two to one an hour during the town's morning and afternoon rush hour.
However, that does not include the unscheduled bridge openings caused by the barges going to and from Palm Beach County's Bonefish Cove Project.
'We asked them to delay the project, to work in the off hours, to work at night ... all those requests were denied but the meeting and the communications did not stop,' Blouin said.
During the town's last meeting with the project's lead, the Army Corps of Engineers, Blouin said Corps officials acknowledged that they did not expect the negative traffic impact caused by project's schedule.
But there is some positive news. Blouin said the town saw a 16% decrease in traffic on the Flagler Memorial Bridge and a and 23% decrease on the Royal Park Bridge when the Secret Service lifted the South Ocean Boulevard closure.
Palm Beach County's ever-increasing levels of tourism and growth have also played a role in the town's traffic woes, Blouin said.
'There's been an explosion of tourism and growth here in Palm Beach County, record setting numbers year over year,' Blouin told the over 60 in attendance. 'That's certainly not helping with the traffic, not only in Palm Beach County, but here in the Town of Palm Beach.'
Palm Beach County has also experienced a nearly 3% growth in traffic along its main roadways leading to West Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach, Kerr said.
However, residents could expect improvements by 2026, Blouin said, noting that the county is in the midst of updating its traffic signals, which should help reduce traffic traveling to and from the island during rush hour.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Town pitches shuttle service, building moratorium during traffic forum