Lake Worth Road seeing daily crashes because of this newly-built protection for bicycles

Yahoo

10-06-2025

PALM SPRINGS — Uber driver Andre Prudhomme has no problem protecting bicyclists on busy roads, but he recently joined a fast-growing list of unfortunate commuters who crashed into new concrete buffers on Lake Worth Road meant to do that.
Prudhomme was driving east in Lake Worth Road's right lane on June 5, he said, when a big pickup swerved into his lane, forcing him to swerve right, crashing into a bicycle lane barrier, blowing out one of his car's tires and tearing open its oil pan.
Ever since these barriers were unveiled in May, business owners and Palm Springs officials say, bicyclists do not use the protected lanes, which go from Congress Avenue to Military Trail.
"It's safe for the bikes," Prudhomme said while waiting for a tow truck at the strip mall just east of the Lake Worth Drive-In and Swap Shop, "but it's not safe for the people driving on the road."
Before the concrete barriers were installed this year, swerving right would lead a driver directly into the bike lane. Most bicyclists avoided that lane and rode on the sidewalks. Now, there is little room for driver error.
The Florida Department of Transportation in November 2022 approved the installation of bike lane barriers as part of a $14 million project on Lake Worth Road to upgrade crosswalk pedestrian signal systems, replace or add road signs, add sidewalk curb ramps where there were none to meet federal disability standards and repair pipes and water mains underground.
The department owns and maintains Lake Worth Road, which runs through Palm Springs.
The project was officially completed in May, when the contractor, Miami-based Zahlene Enterprises, removed the orange-and-white barrel-shaped traffic cones from on top of the bike lane barriers.
Since then, crashes have happened daily, says Andy Hernandez, co-owner of a Lake Worth Road U-Haul truck dealership less than a quarter-mile east of Prudhomme's crash.
When drivers hit a barrier, they usually blow out at least one tire, and their vehicles limp into the U-Haul parking lot, taking up one of the six spaces for customers, Hernandez said. Other businesses in the area get disabled vehicles in their lots, too, he said.
The worst Hernandez has seen so far was four vehicles crash in the span of about four hours on May 24, the Saturday before Memorial Day, he added.
As a bike rider himself, Hernandez is fine with protecting cyclists from cars, he said, but he wonders why the concrete strips were built when most cyclists ride on the newly widened 10- to 12-foot sidewalks instead. "Why would you use the bike lane when you have an extra four feet on the sidewalk?" he said.
More evidence of regular crashes can be seen on the concrete strips themselves. Just weeks after being fully unveiled, their edges and faces already have gashes, chips and tire tread markings.
Palm Springs village officials did not raise bike lane barrier concerns to state transportation officials during construction because it was unclear how they would look at the time, Assistant Village Manager Kimberly Glas-Castro said. But during a walkthrough of the project with the contractor in May, she said, "We verbally expressed concerns that the barriers would be hit."
When Palm Springs officials brought their concerns last month to state transportation officials, Glas-Castro said, "Their first reaction was, 'Well, it's new. People just have to get used to it.' "
Palm Springs' police department is gathering information and statistics on bike barrier crashes to send to the state Transportation Department, Glas-Castro said.
State transportation officials, meanwhile, are sending a team to observe Lake Worth Road traffic, a Florida Department of Transportation pavement design engineer, Kris McKirdy, told Glas-Castro on June 3 in an email.
The department will also look into ideas such as adding reflective pavement markings, reflective striping or similar things on the sides of the bike lane barriers, spokesperson Saraana Jamraj said June 6.
Chris Persaud covers transportation in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email news tips and ideas to [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lake Worth Road seeing daily crashes because of new bicyclist barriers