Camino Real bridge finally open, but drivers in for more closures

Crews ready to work on Spanish River Boulevard

BOCA RATON – Finally, after a year and half, one of the oldest bridges in Palm Beach County is open again. But that doesn’t mean the headaches are over for drivers.

The 80-year-old Camino Real bridge in Boca Raton reopened this week just as crews get ready to close the Spanish River Boulevard bridge, Boca’s northern-most bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Here’s the lowdown on each project.

Spanish River Bridge

The bridge needs a paint job and will close periodically from Aug. 12 until sometime next winter.

Westbound lanes will be open

weekdays between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. but can close after that. Eastbound lanes will be open between 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. but can be closed earlier in the day.

When the bridge closes on weekends, full closures will run from 5 a.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. the following Monday.

The public will be notified, and the closures will be advertised on lighted message boards, the city says.

Northbound motorists can detour to Linton Boulevard to cross the Intracoastal. Southbound drivers can go to Palmetto Park Road.

Camino Real bridge

The bridge — officially the Clarence H. Geist Memorial Bridge — was one of 14 in South Florida that the state declared were structurally deficient in 2017. Its lanes were barely big enough for a compact car but carried 14,000 car trips per day, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

The 14 bridges weren’t unsafe but had to be replaced within six years, FDOT said.

The repairs at Camino Real were supposed to take a year, but delays piled on and irritated drivers for four additional months. Drivers had to drive north to the Palmetto Park bridge or south to the Hillsboro Inlet bridge, enduring congested roads and cars backed up in turn lanes.

“Your whole lifestyle was adjusted because of that bridge,” said Jerry Sloan, a 92-year-old resident who lives within half a mile of the bridge. “This is the way we get into the heart of Boca, sometimes back and forth and multiple times per day.”

Traveling to the northern or southern bridges could add more than 20 minutes to the drive, particularly on mornings and weekends, he said.

Sloan said his whole community is thrilled to have the bridge open again.

PHOTOS BY TAIMY ALVAREZ/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL Boats pass under the Camino Real bridge on Thursday. The bridge is open after being closed for more than a year.

Drivers can use the Camino Real after delays in repairs piled on for months.