Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
City plans plaza above historic tunnel
FORT LAUDERDALE — Preserve history or add ambiance?
That is what the city is grappling with as it prepares to build a plaza on the north side of Las Olas Boulevard, above the entrance to the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel.
A public plaza could make a larger portion of the trendy boulevard more inviting to visitors, by replacing a wall-lined sidewalk with benches, shade trees, art work or tourist kiosks that create a pleasant rest stop.
Most important for the area’s development, it could entice more visitors to cross over the tunnel and explore the shops, restaurants and venues on the other side instead of stopping there and heading back the way they came.
“There’s this major impediment where people turn around and don’t go west,” said Elizabeth Van Zandt, the city’s mobility manager. “This could be something very iconic in terms of a public space.”
The already iconic art-deco-style tunnel was the first ever built in Florida and is listed by the state as potentially eligible for National Historic Register designation.
Since its opening in 1960, the tunnel has made it a breeze for Federal Highway drivers to traverse the New River. But its entrance wall butts up to the sidewalk on Las Olas Boulevard and acts as a psychological barrier to crossing.
The proposed plaza would push the tunnel wall back 50 feet, giving the intersection some breathing room and reducing the traffic noise on the boulevard coming from the tunnel. It would also make it safer by creating better sight lines for pedestrians on Las Olas Boulevard and for drivers exiting Federal Highway.
“Any space you give to residents and tourists to relax in downtown, they’re going to take advantage of it,” said Luke Moorman, of Carroll’s Jewelers, who is president of the Las Olas Boulevard Association.
But consultants say any plaza plan would jeopardize the historic status of the tunnel, which was the only one in the state until the Port Miami tunnel opened in 2015. The tunnel’s northern entrance is one of its most distinguishing features, but it would have to be altered and moved to the north if a plaza were built.
The city will be working with the state Historic Preservation Office to
find ways to mitigate any changes, but there may be no way to preserve its National Historic Register eligibility anyway.
The plaza project is to be done in conjunction with a $15 million rehabilitation of the tunnel by the Florida Department of Transportation that also includes work on its ventilation and lighting systems.
“We’re going to have to remove [historic art deco] tiles. We could be looking at our own adverse impact to the tunnel,” said Lynn Kelley, with the department.
Transportation officials will have to make their own presentations to the preservation office, but in the end, safety will trump any historic considerations when construction begins in 2020.
There will still be history in the area. The city’s oldest building, the Stranahan House, sits near the intersection, along the New River on the south side of Las Olas Boulevard. And the 1930s Riverside Hotel is just a few doors to the east.