ALTERNATE A1A GETS $350,O00 SPRUCE-UP
Landscaping of a 1-mile stretch expected to be finished by June 30.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A big landscaping project in the city is ahead of schedule, despite the rain that’s been drenching Palm Beach County for the past couple of weeks.
Palm Beach Gardens is prettying up a roughly 1-mile stretch of Alternate A1A for $350,000. The city expected the contractor to finish no later than June 30.
The project from Burns Road to the city’s southern boundary at the C-17 Canal is about halfway complete. The rain hasn’t caused any substantial delays, according PALM BEACH GARDENS READERS
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to Angela Brown, the city’s deputy community services administrator.
The landscapers planted palm trees in the past few weeks and recently added grass in the medians. They should complete the median plantings by Wednesday and finish the landscaping on the west side of the road in about two weeks, Brown said.
They still need to install irrigation after the plantings are finished, and that will be completed by the June
30 deadline, Brown said.
The landscaping on the western shoulder will screen the view of the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The area is north of the Pirate’s Well Restaurant & Bar, next to the Promenade Plaza shopping center and Gardens East apartments.
Flashing signs alert drivers to possible lane closures from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.
Palm Beach Gardens is paying for the landscaping with a $100,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation and money from the city’s general fund.
Landscapers are adding solitaire palms, green island ficus and pink muhly grass — commonly called “cotton candy” grass — in the medians. They are planting cocoplum and sabal palms, along with silver buttonwood trees and fakahatchee grass on the west shoulder.
The cost of upkeep is about $20,000 a year, plus replacing the plants as necessary, city spokeswoman Candice Temple had said. The owners of the Promenade Plaza will be responsible for maintaining some of the landscaping.
The city is also upgrading an irrigation pump station north of Burns Road.