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Sewer line project closes section of East Country Club Boulevard in Boca Raton

Michael Turnbell | TRANSPORTATION COLUMNIST
August 3, 2008

Q Why is Northwest Second Avenue (East Country Club Boulevard) north of Hidden Valley Boulevard in Boca Raton closed through the end of January?

Tom Horsley, Delray Beach

A Boca Raton is installing a sewer line in the center of the road.

The project started on East Country Club Boulevard just north of Hidden Valley and will move north in sections until it gets to the Brant Drive bridge, a two-lane connector to Delray Beach.

Michael Turnbell Michael Turnbell E-mail | Recent columns

City officials decided to close the street during construction because Brant Drive is a popular shortcut between Boca Raton and Delray Beach, carrying 4,400 vehicles per day.

"If we kept the bridge open, that traffic would be utilizing low-volume residential streets, which carry just a few hundred vehicles per day," said John Reilly, Boca Raton's transportation analyst.

"This is an inconvenience on a lot of people, but this neighborhood has a lot of kids, pedestrians and bikers who use these low-volume streets, and the decision was made based on safety," he said.

Q What kind of trucks are prohibited from using the left lane of Florida's Turnpike? One of my drivers with a 14-foot, two-axle Isuzu truck, which is similar to a U-haul truck, was ticketed for being in the left lane of the turnpike between Okeechobee Road and Northwest 41st Street in northwest Miami-Dade.

Larry Baker, Plantation

A Trucks with two axles and six or more tires, including box trucks, semis and tractor-trailers, must stay out of the left lane in designated areas. Pickup trucks and SUVs are excluded.

The left-lane restrictions apply to the turnpike between the Golden Glades interchange in Miami-Dade County and the Lantana toll plaza west of Lake Worth, and between Interstate 75 and Caribbean Boulevard (Exit 12) on the Homestead Extension.

Q Margate has done a nice job of paving roads, but why has the city not touched Royal Palm Boulevard between State Road 7 and Rock Island Road? It is riddled with potholes that have been repaired and patched several times.

E. Phillips, Coral Springs

A Royal Palm Boulevard is slated for major rehabilitation next year between State Road 7 and One Mile Canal, which is just east of Rock Island.

This won't be your ordinary resurfacing project, said Margate engineer Reddy Chitepu, explaining why it has taken longer to get the $4 million project ready for construction.

The work will include additional turn lanes and some curb changes. Construction will begin in January and take about nine months.

Q Construction to widen Lyons Road between Clint Moore Road and Atlantic Avenue west of Delray Beach started six months ago, and now work has stopped. When will construction resume?

Joseph Guerrera, Delray Beach

A Work was halted so AT&T could relocate their lines.

AT&T is expected to finish by Aug. 8, which means road construction will resume soon afterward, said Owen Miley of the Palm Beach County Engineer's Office. Rain could push that date back.

Related topic galleries: Larry Baker, Florida's Turnpike, Clubs and Associations, Coral Springs, Vehicles, Isuzu, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida)

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