M Street site of 2-week road project
LAKE WORTH — As part of the ongoing downtown water main improvement project, substantial road work will happen in Lake Worth on M Street between 1st Avenue South and 2nd Avenue North until May 21.
“We’re replacing several water mains in the downtown area along J, K and M streets as well as the alley between Lake and Lucerne from Dixie to L Street and a small portion on North G Street between Lake and Lucerne,” said Julie Parham, Lake Worth’s assistant water utilities director.
Parham said the water main that’s in that alley is shallow and has been the cause of breaks in recent years with trucks. “We’re looking to replace that to provide a stronger water main there,” she said. “It won’t avoid water main breaks, but it will help to provide a redundant pressure and flow in the system.”
The $1.3 million project started in March and will end either in late September or early October, Parham said. Work will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The city will start work on J and K streets in the summer, Par ham said.
There will be one through lane open on Lake and Lucerne avenues. Drivers can take a detour along 1st Avenue South and 2nd Avenue North. They’ll be signs and barricades set up to help direct traffiffic, Parham said.
Lake Worth held two community outreach meetings about the projec t in May 2017 and the second earlier this year, Parham said.
“They were in support of the project generally, but they had some concerns of the time frame when the project was going to be done,” she said.
Originally, the city planed to start the project in September, but some business owners were concerned about losing customers during season, so the city changed the date to March.
Downtown business owners say the work has not affected them.
“They were working here on J street last week, and it was vibrating the whole street for a while,” said Tamara Ayraud, co-owner of Book Cellar. “But there’s been no impact on the business.”
Ernesto Salazar, a worker at EAS Shipping on Lake Avenue, said he hasn’t had any issues. “It’s business as usual,” he said.
Patti Sheldon, who owns Awe Flowers on Lucerne Avenue, said the work hasn’t affected business but something else has.
“The Palm Beach snowbirds have gone home,” she said.