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June 8, 2014|By Angel Streeter, Sun Sentinel,
By Angel Streeter, Sun Sentinel Driving, walking, biking and taking the bus along State Road 7 is going to get better as enhancements are made to the busy corridor in the next five years.
The Florida Department of Transportation has laid out its plan for the first phase of improvements coming to the regional road, also called U.S. 441, in northwest Broward County and southwest Palm Beach County.
Between Sample and Glades roads, traffic signals will be coordinated, sidewalks and bike lanes added, intersections improved and new bus shelters built.
"I'm looking forward to all the changes on 441," said Jon Laye, who regularly bikes and drives on the road. "441 is a busy, hectic roadway."
As part of the $9.3 million first phase, intersection improvements will be made at Turtle Creek Drive, Marina Boulevard, Sandalfoot Boulevard, Judge Winikoff Road, Palmetto Park Road, Boca Woods Lane and Glades Road.
A first for a state road, a green, 5-foot bike lane will be installed on both sides of the road to make it more visible to drivers. A 3-foot buffer between the bike and car lanes will be included.
FDOT also is preparing for a time when an express bus system will travel between Broward and Palm Beach on State Road 7. An express system with limited stops that will get bus riders to their destinations faster is more than 10 years away.
But FDOT plans to start building bigger, premium shelters to go with the express service that would also benefit the regular bus service on the road now.
So new shelters are planned for southbound and northbound bus stops at Sandalfoot Boulevard, southbound and northbound stops at Central Park Boulevard and the southbound bus stop at Glades Road. Plus, a new northbound bus stop with shelter will be added at Glades Road.
At some bus stops, FDOT will include electronic message boards that will let passengers know when the next bus will be arriving. The proposed stops that will have that real-time information are Glades Road, Palmetto Park Road, Sandalfoot Boulevard, Hillsboro Boulevard, Wiles Road and Sample Road.
A transit hub also will be developed at West Boca Medical Center so people can transfer between Palm Tran, Palm Beach County's bus system, and Broward County Transit.
FDOT also is laying the foundation for a host of technological improvements that should make traffic flow better on the road. New traffic signal controllers are going in mainly in Palm Beach County but also in sections of Broward County during the first phase of improvements to better sync traffic signals across the county lines.
Later, cameras will be added at intersections in Broward; Palm Beach already has them. Many years down the road, electronic message signs are proposed at Glades and Sample. Sensors that detect vehicles will be deployed along the road that provide data on travel times and speed so traffic jams can be broken up.
But there also will be a lot of low-tech additions to State Road 7: plenty of trees.
"Landscaping is important for what we're envisioning for the corridor," said Gregor Senger, an FDOT project manager.
astreeter@tribune.com, 561-243-6537 or Twitter @adstreeter
