Dr. Detour
Wayne Roustan has answers for road worriers.
Doctor Detour answers your transportation questions.
Q: The paving on Interstate 95 in central and northern Broward County has resulted in an uneven, bumpy, bouncy and actually very challenging ride. It can be dangerous as it causes vehicles to veer left or right and out of the designated lane. Have there been complaints about the work? Are there plans in the works to level and smooth the pavement? David Kahn, Boca Raton.
A: Yes and yes. There have been dozens of complaints filed with construction project managers about the uneven pavement on I-95. The solution has been to pave the adjacent lane on subsequent nights. Unfortunately, until that stretch of highway is paved evenly, vehicles of all sizes will bounce and zigzag when changing lanes.
The state allows a maximum difference of 1.5 inches between lanes, or 3 inches if a sloping edge is created between them. It’s a byproduct of the ongoing 95 Express Lanes project between Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach that won’t be finished until 2024. So hang on tight. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Q: It took us over an hour to exit the ramp onto Broward Boulevard from I-95 due to the construction [March 10]. There was no police presence. I’m surprised there were no accidents or road rage incidents. When will the construction be finished? Doris Sipos, Davie.
A: Broward Boulevard construction between I-95 and U.S. 1 is scheduled to be finished this summer to give one of the county’s busiest roadways a much-needed facelift.
The Broward Boulevard bridge, between 15th and 18th avenues, opened to traffic March 28. There is some sidewalk and streetlight construction left to do on the bridge.
What you were stuck in was the result of work on a natural gas line on the west side of the bridge.
Three eastbound lanes were reduced to one which backed up traffic along Broward Boulevard and all the way down the northbound I-95 exit ramp.
It was compounded by all the traffic heading to the Fort Lauderdale St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival that day. I saw only one Florida Highway Patrol SUV at the construction scene.