Photo: CBS 12
A major road closure is coming this Friday at 8 p.m.
Throughout the week, we'll have a series of stories covering different angles to the Northlake Boulevard closure at the Beeline Highway, which is expected to impact up to 70,000 drivers for each of the eight days it will last.
We asked Interim Palm Beach County Administrator Todd Bonlarron if there are any circumstances upon which the closure could go beyond eight days. He says CSX Railway and the Florida Department of Transportation have been working closely on the timing.
"I think a number of the things that could impact any potential delays, they feel like they've been able to build into their schedule and calendar to accommodate that over the time period that they provided."
Bonlarron says that short of what he called "some extreme weather system," likely meaning a hurricane hitting our area, eight days will cover it.
As for whether he thinks there's a chance drivers could get lucky and the intersection reopens sooner than eight days...
"Yeah, no I don't think that's been a topic of conversation that they have been discussing. The reality of it is that we want to prepare our residents and commuters in that region for what the realistic expectation is."
The intersection will reopen in time for the rush hour Monday morning, August 11th, which is also the first day of school in Palm Beach County.
Photo: Palm Beach County
The work includes a replacement of the train tracks and the signals at the intersection.
"And obviously when you do that, you're putting in a different track but then you're also needing to test those tracks as well with trains that will run along it during that testing phase."
The county has designated several detours for people living in Ibis, The Acreage, Loxahatchee Groves and other communities, but those will add a lot of extra time to their commutes.
Click Here for more information on the closure.