Lake Worth Beach City Limits: Palm Beach Post reporter Sarah Peters on the Coastal Link.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Palm Beach Post reporter Sarah Peters on the Coastal Link.

North-south transportation is a big topic of late in Palm Beach County. However, below is an intriguing idea from the Loxahatchee Sierra Club’s Chair, Mr. Drew Martin, on how to improve east-west commuting.

The future of public transportation here in PBC is an exciting one. Back in 2015, if you recall, reporter Brian Entin at WPTV/NBC5 first broke the news about the Coastal Link (Entin is now at WSVN in Miami).

So. How far has this project progressed?

Two of the Coastal Link stations proposed locally are:

At Georgia Ave. and Gregory Rd., near the current location of Winn Dixie in West Palm Beach, just to the north of Lake Worth across the C-51 Canal.

And at Lake Ave. in the City of Lake Worth along the FEC Railway tracks.

There are not many press or media reports about the Coastal Link but did find this recent article by reporter Sarah Peters:

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Palm Beach Gardens has snagged a $120,000 grant to plan a new Tri-Rail station that will extend the commuter rail north and eventually allow thousands who commute to work along PGA Boulevard an alternative to slogging through highway traffic snarls.
     The money comes from the Federal Transit Administration and will have to be met with $30,000 from Palm Beach Gardens.
     Residents will be able to weigh in on what the station should look like at a future public meeting. The station is expected to sit near the Florida East Coast tracks at PGA Boulevard and Alternate A1A. [emphasis added]
     The commuter train line stretches from Miami International Airport and stops at 45th Street in Mangonia Park, but plans have long been in the works to extend its reach through Palm Beach Gardens and into Jupiter as part of the Tri-Rail Coastal Link.

On east-west transportation and commuter rail, here’s the latest idea from Drew Martin presented at the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC) on June 16th:

“He [Drew Martin] stated he also attended the mobility conference in West Palm Beach and felt it was well done. He stated there was talk about public transportation and getting people out of their cars, but it was limited to I-95 and downtown West Palm Beach. He stated what we need to look at is some sort of trolley system that will run all the way out to the Village of Royal Palm Beach, because there really is no east/west public transportation. He also noted there was an interesting proposal to have air-conditioned train stations for the public to encourage more use of public transportation.”