Correction: This story originally indicated that an average of 41,000 vehicles traveled eastbound every day on Northlake at the rail crossing. That figure referred to traffic in both directions. The story has been corrected and more information about traffic counts inserted.
Update: On July 9, CSX determined it would start the project on Friday, Aug. 1.
Traffic Armageddon awaits The Acreage.
For eight days before school starts in August, the 41,000 cars and trucks that normally travel back and forth every day on Northlake Boulevard will be diverted into the maze-like network of already jammed two-lane roads that wind through the semi-rural community.
When the shutdown begins and when it ends is up to the CSX Railway.
Rail officials have insisted to state officials that now, while the state is rebuilding the Beeline Highway, is the time to replace the rails that cross Northlake just west of the Beeline.
State officials asked CSX to wait a year, when a northern route through Avenir is likely to be open, but CSX officials, citing the safety of the rails, declined.
They said locomotive engineers have noticed a dip in the rails as freight and Amtrak-passenger trains bound to or from Lakeland cross the intersection, said Mel Pollock, senior project engineer with the Corradino Group, which is managing the $150 million Beeline reconstruction project for the Florida Department of Transportation.
In a statement released last week, CSX did not mention rail safety, except to say “CSX invests heavily in railroad infrastructure maintenance and upgrades to ensure the safe and reliable movement of trains.”
It did not respond to a specific question from Stet News about the safety of its rails.
First look at detour map
The closure is set to go into effect for eight days starting on a Friday, either July 18, July 25 or Aug. 1. CSX officials say they will provide three weeks’ notice but have not yet selected a date.
On Wednesday, CSX informed the state that workers, equipment and materials would not be ready in time to start on July 18, so the earliest work can begin is July 25, Pollock said.
Traffic counts presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Indian Trail Improvement District supervisors show an average of 41,000 vehicles travel in both directions on Northlake between Ibis and the Beeline Highway. An April 2024 Palm Beach County traffic count puts the number at 44,903 but that is all day long and in both directions. A previous version of this story incorrectly described those traffic counts as referring only to eastbound traffic.
About 1,500 vehicles traveled eastbound on Northlake during the morning peak travel hour between State Road 7 and Beeline, the county traffic counts show. Those drivers would be detoured south through The Acreage, a potentially crippling blow to the community’s saturated road network.
While CSX officials haven’t released a detour map yet, Pollock presented one Tuesday to the North County Neighborhood Coalition.
It reveals two routes, one a lengthy perimeter route that would take cars from Northlake to Seminole Pratt Whitney Road to Southern Boulevard to Military Trail; the other cutting directly through The Acreage on Coconut Boulevard.
To questions about why the crossing can’t open during the day, Pollock said the CSX indicated in meetings with state officials that past rail work at the crossing, done in stages, created problems that will not be repeated if the work can be done all at once.
The tracks and road bed “will basically be obliterated,” Pollock said, meaning Northlake can’t reopen during rush hour.
State workers will take advantage of the closure to replace and rebuild train signals and gates to match the footprint of the new road, he said. State roadbuilders also will take advantage of the absence of cars to advance their work on Northlake, he said.
Three-hour delays?
But for the 40,000 residents of The Acreage and others in Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach who live west of the Beeline but head east for jobs, medical appointments and other needs, it’s going to mean an agonizing choice of detours that stretch 20 to 35 miles out of the way.
Expect delays up to three hours, supervisors of the Indian Trail Improvement District, which governs The Acreage, said at an emergency meeting Tuesday.
“You have to think in the morning commute you could be adding much more than an hour,” board President Elizabeth Accomando said. When a crash closes Northlake, she said, tie-ups can delay drivers up to three hours.
One resident who lives on Coconut, a critical two-lane north-south road, told Accomando that she recently needed nine minutes to pull her car out of her driveway.
“Be patient and be courteous,” Accomando urged.
‘There’s not much anybody can do about it’
The board, which said it learned of the issue June 13, approved a plan to block detour traffic from accessing three roads off Northlake — Hall and Grapeview boulevards and 140th Avenue North — to keep drivers from skipping around traffic jams.
Those drivers, officials fear, would be blocked from merging into the detour route farther on, causing even worse traffic jams.
“They’re going to end up either at a dead-end or they’re going to be lost only to get back to the detour roads,” Accomando said.
“If you’re on the cut-through, you’re probably going to spend more time than if you were on the main street,” the district’s engineer, Jay Foy, said. “You are going to get frustrated. You are going to be delayed. There’s not much anybody can do about it.”
“No matter how bad you think this will be, it will get at least that bad,” Foy said.
A 35-mile detour
One of the chief detour routes, Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, is lined by construction barricades and features shifting lanes as Palm Beach County widens it from two to four lanes. The county said it would suspend construction during the shutdown.
The Seminole detour is the longest, about 35 miles. It would take motorists starting at the Shoppes at Ibis on Northlake 5 miles to get to Seminole. From there it would be 9 miles south to Southern Boulevard, 12 miles east to Military Trail and 9 miles north to Northlake.
The town of Loxahatchee Groves fears cars will cut east on Okeechobee Boulevard, a two-lane road that runs through the rural town for 4 miles.
A more direct route, suggested by Palm Beach County officials, would take cars through the heart of The Acreage on Coconut Boulevard. From there, they would zig-zag left onto Orange Boulevard, right onto Royal Palm Beach Boulevard, left onto 60th Street, right onto State Road 7 and left onto Okeechobee Boulevard.
That route amounts to 8.5 miles on roads already crowded at rush hour. From there they would still have to travel 12 miles to get back to Northlake.
Emergency response plans
Aside from concerns about getting to jobs and medical appointments, residents asked about access for emergency vehicles.
Officials from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach all said they would stage extra first responders at fire stations within the detour area.
Emergency vehicles can get across the tracks at a crossing now used by westbound traffic exiting the Beeline. It’s 300 feet north of the crossing that will be closed.
“We’re going to get through this, I promise you that,” sheriff’s Capt. Robert Sandt told the Indian Trail supervisors. “With patience and cooperation, we’ll get through it.”
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
