U.S. 1 work in Tequesta causing traffic anguish
The six-lane stretch is being reduced to four to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians, and some commuters are furious.
TEQUESTA — Chris Monroe’s commute through Tequesta has gotten a lot more challenging since construction began on a 1.4-mile stretch of U.S. 1 last fall.
As part of the Florida Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets initiative, which configures roadways to allow equally safe passage for motorized vehicles, bicycle riders and pedestrians, the six-lane section of U.S. 1 between Beach Road and County Line Road will be reduced permanently to four lanes for vehicular traffic.
The other two lanes — one in each direction — will be reserved for bicycle riders, while sidewalks will be widened for pedestrians. New lighting, marked crosswalks, landscaping and drainage also are planned.
Work began in November and is expected to be complete by the end of the year, according to the FDOT.
Proponents of the project, including Mayor Abby Brennan and council member Vince Arena, say reducing U.S. 1 to four lanes will make driving safer because it will slow down traffic.
“Excessive speeding is a problem,” Brennan said.
Brennan said years of research by road engineers and architects as well as the results of traffic studies helped convince her and other proponents that the project was sound.
But many Tequesta residents and motorists who travel on U.S. 1 don’t want to hear it.
For them, the $3.2 million project — most of it funded through FDOT maintenance funds and a federal grant — has become a giant headache.
The outside northbound and southbound lanes already have been closed permanently as construction continues, and that has led to snarled commutes for motorists, particularly at rush hour.
Business owners and employees whose offices sit along U.S. 1 also have had difficulty getting to and from work, they say.
“I’m trying to figure out whose
brilliant idea it was to shorten the
width of U.S. 1 in Tequesta to two lanes,” said Monroe, a Jupiter resident who travels through Tequesta to get to work in Stuart. “Tequesta, to the best of my knowledge, is not a destination hot spot on anyone’s radar.”
Monroe said that during rush hour on U.S. 1, traffic backs up from Tequesta Drive to Alternate A1A to the south, and from Tequesta Drive to County Line Road to the north.
The road can’t handle that volume of vehicular traffic with four lanes, said Buddy Frezza, whose company owns CrossFit Palm Beach on U.S. 1.
“This is a commuter highway,” he said. “This is not going through a sleepy little village.”
Frezza also has concerns about the new bike lanes, which he says present a danger to bicyclists because of numerous exits and entrances into businesses along U.S. 1.
Frezza says he counted 10 street intersections and 15 driveways into businesses on the northbound side of U.S. 1, and four street intersections and 36 driveways into businesses on the southbound side.
“Each one of these 65 intersections represents a potential accident where vehicles must cross the bike path as they exit and enter from their neighborhoods and/or businesses,” he said. “For this reason, I strongly believe that casual bikers will continue to avoid the new bike lanes. There are no destinations between Beach Road and Hobe Sound that warrant the risk.”
Frezza’s concerns are shared by Tequesta ViceMayor Tom Paterno, who has opposed the project since it first was pitched in 2014.
Originally intended as a repaving project as part of the FDOT’s statewide road maintenance schedule, its scope expanded with a push from the village council, which wanted to improve safety for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.
Paterno disagreed with the rest of the council, and voted against the project.
“I thought it was a disaster for traffic, for the area,” Paterno said. “It reminds me of I-95 now. The road is so congested now, because we lost 50 percent of our lanes. It doesn’t work for us.”
Paterno added that slowing down traffic on U.S. 1 has not been a boon for businesses in the way proponents had hoped.
“All it’s done is aggravate people into not wanting to go on U.S. 1,” he said.
“So there’s less people who are going to be shopping. They’re not going to want to stop, because they know if they stop, it’s a nightmare.”
Brennan said Friday that she understands the inconveniences caused by the roadwork. But she added that it is unlikely the traffic tie-ups will continue once the orange barrels are removed and traffic lights are sequenced to allow for better traffic flow.
In response to concerns raised by commuters and business owners, the village created a brochure that explains the project in detail and answers questions about it. It’s available at village hall.
Paving will begin Sunday. Work is scheduled to take place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily and will require additional lane closures, according to the village. One travel lane will remain open in each direction at all times.