NEW GARDENS TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM CAUSING BACKUPS

Automated system for lights should be finished this summer.

PALM BEACH GARDENS — The installation of a new, automated system that’s supposed to keep traffic flowing on PGA Boulevard is causing backups instead, according to the city.

The Florida Department of Transportation is installing the Intelligent Traffic System, a project that will link all of the traffic signals along PGA Boulevard from the entrances of PGA National and Mirasol to U.S. 1.

But bad timing of the signals during installation of the system is to blame for recent congestion, according to a June 4 update from the city. If a signal isn’t working correctly, Palm Beach Gardens plans to have police help with traffic control.

As of Tuesday morning, adjustments made by FDOT and the county have improved the traffic conditions, city spokeswoman Candice Temple said.

Reader Rob King said it’s been a “nightmare” to travel east on PGA Boulevard over Florida’s Turnpike. It takes three cycles of the light just to get over the bridge to go to BallenIsles, he wrote in an email to the Palm Beach Post last Friday.

The good news is the project should be finished this summer, according to FDOT. The work entails replacing existing cameras, adding cameras at 15 intersections and installing four systems to detect traffic in the middle of the block.

There may be intermittent shoulder and outside lane closures 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

A new lighted sign between Minsk Gardens Boulevard and Prosperity Farms Road will alert drivers to issues with the PGA Boulevard drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway so they can take an alternate route.

Before the project started, the FDOT design project manager said drivers wouldn’t see improvements until the work is completed.

Engineer Rob Lopez said last fall it will take the county time to learn how to use the new system and improvements will be gradual.

Palm Beach County controls the timing of all its traffic lights. The software FDOT is installing on PGA Boulevard is also used by the county to control the timing of traffic signals on Northlake and Okeechobee Boulevards.

For more information, contact FDOT Community Outreach Specialist Meredith Cruz at 561-641-6440.