To anyone living in Palm Beach County, it has become clear that rapid growth means more traffic and fewer ways to get around.
Welcome to the countywide transportation master plan.
“What we’re really doing here is helping you through the process of deciding what your county is going to be like when it grows up,” said planner Victor Dover at the kickoff event Friday for the county’s one-year, $1 million master planning effort.
The Coral Gables planner is part of a team headed by international engineering and planning conglomerate WSP, which has assigned its Atlanta-based Southeast region executive, Claudia Bilotto, to head the project.
READ MORE: Palm Beach County vs. Palm Beach Gardens: Lawsuit to decide how people get around
The effort dates to February 2024, when the County Commission met with the League of Cities to discuss adding to the sales tax an extra 1-cent for every dollar spent. Voters approved such a tax for construction needs in cities, schools and the county in 2016 but it expires this year.
At the meeting, county commissioners decided voters would be hard-pressed to approve such a tax in 2024, especially with the School District seeking (and getting) a half-cent tax. Commissioners decided the county and the cities would have a better chance if they could build support for the tax through a study prioritizing how the money would be spent.
At the time, a half-penny added to the sales tax was projected to bring in $200 million a year.
Instead of seeking voter approval in 2024, they envisioned a referendum in November 2026. And they moved forward on hiring a consultant.
‘We have to listen to everybody’
However, the consultant’s timeline, presented Friday, shows work continuing through July 2026, leaving little or no time to make the November 2026 ballot.
At stake is Coastal Link, an effort to move Tri-Rail commuter service to the coastal FEC Railway that would cost at least $500 million, state records show. It is considered a critical step toward providing an option other than cars and roads to move people from Miami-Dade County to Jupiter.
“What this process is really going to do is take a global look at how we need to move people in our county,” County Mayor Maria Marino told the kickoff crowd of about 100 people. “Are we able to fund PalmTran more in the future? Are we able to fund Tri-Rail Coastal Link in the future?
“We also know that the great majority of the people in our county do not take rail or bus so we have to be careful in how we dedicate the funds in this when in fact we come up with a plan and if in fact we put this on the ballot to be a dedicated funding source,” she said. “So we have to listen to everybody that is out there.”
Billions lined up to widen turnpike
The planning begins as the methodical thrum of federal and state road-building planning pours $2.3 billion into the county to widen Florida’s Turnpike from four to eight lanes and more than $1 billion to rebuild almost every Interstate 95 interchange and a portion of the Beeline Highway.
The consultants plan to analyze data and existing studies and hear from residents, business owners, cities, special districts and county officials to “define network alignments, develop design principles and provide additional opportunities for multimodal connections.”
From there, they said, they will identify constraints, create models, rank priorities and build tools to accomplish the plan’s goals.
While the consultants said community outreach will begin in mid-September, they heard a mouthful Friday when they opened the meeting to public comment. In particular residents of Loxahatchee Groves and The Acreage urged them to avoid bringing more traffic to the area’s many rural roads.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
