New express lanes would zip drivers below roads

Getting drivers more quickly from Interstate 95 to the Sawgrass Expressway will involve putting them on express lanes that dip below local roads for one mile, according to plans that were unveiled Tuesday.

An estimated 45,000 vehicles now travel daily along the 2 stretch of Southwest 10th Street between the Sawgrass Expressway and I-95 in Deerfield Beach — which is more than it was designed for. Almost half of those vehicles would opt for these express lanes, rather than go through the current eight traffic lights along Southwest 10th Street, according to state transportation planners’ projections.

By 2029, the number making this east-west trip is estimated to grow to 61,900, and about 30,000 would take the express routes, according to estimates.

The link’s goal is two-fold, project manager Anson Sonnett said. It would get people to the major roads — linking I-95 and the Sawgrass Turnpike and secondarily, Florida’s Turnpike and Interstate 75 — more quickly. And it would also alleviate the local congestion for Deerfield residents.

Routing the express traffic to lanes lower than the surface roads would bypass the local traffic lights and spare residents the sight of concrete pillars and an elevated roadway. But members of Century Village, one of Deerfield’s biggest residential developments, came out in