Loxahatchee Road at University Drive in Parkland. {Google Maps}
By Bryan Boggiano
Starting from October 30, the Loxahatchee Road improvement projects will result in road closures that are anticipated to last until at least February 2024.
During this period, the section of Loxahatchee Road between University Drive and Parkside Drive will be closed for a minimum of four months and potentially longer.
The news comes ahead of an October 23 Florida Department of Transportation virtual meeting scheduled between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Registration is open.
According to the city, road closures are a part of a larger-scale project to improve safety, increase accessibility to Arthur R. Marshall National Wildlife Refuge, and make ADA-related improvements.
The project is a collaboration between multiple agencies, including FDOT, the county, the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the city. Parkland’s cost for the project is less than $2 million out of the $37 million total cost. The city’s portion of the project is about one out of roughly six miles of the total project.
Project components include widening travel lanes, installing bike lanes in both directions, installing a sidewalk on the road’s southern end, inserting a new guardrail on the road’s northern end, and placing medians as a means to calm traffic.
There will also be three roundabouts at Parkside Drive, University Drive, and Nob Hill Road. Project components do not include adding any lanes.
Loxahatchee Road’s construction is set to begin before year’s end and continue through at least 2027. Through that period, partial and complete road closures are expected, with most full road closures occurring through mid-2025.
At that time, night work is expected between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. except for places east of Parkside Drive. Loxahatchee Road will remain open for local traffic and for neighborhoods where the roadway serves as the only access route.
At an October 18 city commission meeting, Mayor Rich Walker echoed these points, warning that further road closures are likely and recommending only local traffic use Loxahatchee Road.
Walker said he acknowledges it will be a long three years for residents, but he said residents and commuters have to adapt.
“I know that’s a tough pill to swallow, but that’s the one we have to take,” Walker said.
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