LYONS ROAD NIGHTMARE, CONSTRUCTION LIKELY TO CONTINUE INTO SUMMER

MORE THAN A YEAR OF DANGEROUS DRIVING AS DELRAY BEACH, BOCA RATON CONSTRUCTION PROJECT AGAIN STALLED.

BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher

BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The construction project that has snarled traffic on Lyons Road between Clint Moore Road and Atlantic Avenue for nearly a year is expected to extend well past the April completion date. Workers have largely been nowhere to be found for weeks, and now Palm Beach County is seeking answers from the contractor.

In a just-written document obtained by BocaNewsNow.com on Friday, the Department of Engineering and Public Works stated that the contractor will soon be responsible for a $3645 daily payment for not completing the work. That payment will do little to help motorists sitting in traffic daily due to the construction.

What was supposed to be a routine road-widening effort completed by December was delayed when engineers found unmapped utility lines beneath Lyons Road. It is unclear why the utilities were not mapped. The find led to a work stoppage that continued for months, while road restrictions remained in place. Work started again in September but now, new problems. Workers are apparently not working.

Accidents are frequent in the area that is full of construction equipment, narrow lanes, and reduced visibility. What led to the problems? GL Homes was permitted to build thousands of homes without appropriate road capacity to handle the traffic — now Lyons Road must be expanded to handle traffic generated by The Bridges, Seven Bridges, Lotus, Boca Bridges. Additionally, increased traffic generated by Delray Marketplace and other nearby shopping centers was never a factor when Lyons Road was just a road in the western part of Palm Beach County.