Joel EngelhardtRailroad workers are preparing to rip up the CSX tracks at Northlake Boulevard near Beeline Highway, blocking traffic for eight days.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Thursday, July 31.
The final fail safe moment for the CSX rail crossing shutdown at Northlake Boulevard passed without a hitch Tuesday, meaning the crossing will close Friday night.
CSX workers were on the site Wednesday, preparing to rip up the road bed and replace the tracks, stopping all east-west traffic on Northlake just west of the Beeline Highway for an estimated eight days.
They did a final check of the tropical weather forecast before confirming to state officials on Tuesday that the 8 pm Friday shutdown is a go. They are positioning materials at the site as any delay could push work into a second week and conflict with the start of school on Aug. 11, when even more commuters will be on the road.
Northlake is one of just three east-west roads out of the area that is home to more than 50,000 residents from the gated communities such as Ibis and Avenir along Northlake to the semi-rural neighborhoods of The Acreage and Loxahatchee.
The other major east-west arteries, Southern and Okeechobee boulevards, are more than seven miles to the south.
Even without school, officials are bracing for major delays as motorists will be sent on detours of 20 to 35 miles either through or around The Acreage, an area notorious for its crowded, narrow roads, some under construction.
Traffic counts from April 2024 show an average of nearly 45,000 vehicles per day in both directions along Northlake at the rail crossing. Peak hour eastbound travel is about 1,500 vehicles.
All of those vehicles would be rerouted either west to Seminole Pratt Whitney Road to Southern Boulevard or directly through The Acreage on Coconut Boulevard to Okeechobee.
New traffic flow at potential bottleneck corner
The county set up a free-flow turn for the next two months at the potential bottleneck where Northlake meets Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. Westbound drivers will be able to turn left onto Pratt without stopping and northbound drivers will have a seamless right turn to go east on Northlake.
Local traffic is being detoured around the intersection, but that worries Elizabeth Accomando, president of the Indian Trail Improvement District board, which governs The Acreage.
One 40-year resident called to say he was hopelessly lost because the detour, which went into effect Tuesday, sent him into the maze of Acreage dirt roads that suddenly dead-end at canals. Some drivers said the detour signs directed them north toward the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area, a dead end.
“These are Indian Trail residents. If they’re confused, think of how people in Ibis and Avenir are going to be,” she said.
One proposal to help harried commuters is to invite food trucks into area parks, an idea she said Palm Beach Gardens is pursuing as well. That way a motorist who loses hours in traffic could jump off the road and pick up dinner, before getting back in traffic.
“At least they’re not hangry,” she said, urging residents to stay off the roads as much as possible.
County officials have said they will clear barricades out of construction zones.
Trains bottoming out
At meetings last month, Mel Pollock, senior project engineer for state consultant the Corradino Group, said CSX told state officials that past rail work at the crossing, done in stages, created problems that will not be repeated if the work can be done all at once.
The tracks and road bed “will basically be obliterated,” Pollock said, meaning Northlake can’t reopen during rush hour.
State workers will take advantage of the closure to replace and rebuild train signals and gates to match the footprint of the new road, he said. State road builders also will take advantage of the absence of cars to advance their work on Northlake, he said.
CSX is taking advantage of the state’s $150 million-plus reconstruction of the Beeline Highway and Northlake Boulevard interchange to complete the work before the winter season brings even more motorists.
Proposals to start the work July 18 or July 25 fell through as CSX waited to make sure manpower and materials would be ready to work around the clock and get the job done.
Public safety officials from West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach County are stationing extra first-responders at fire stations in the area and will be monitoring traffic conditions from the ground and, with drones, from the air.
Emergency vehicles will have the option of crossing the tracks 300 feet north of Northlake, a crossing normally used by westbound traffic exiting the Beeline Highway.
Joel is a founder, reporter and editor at Stet News. His award-winning newspaper career spanned more than 40 years, including 28 years at The Palm Beach Post, which he left in 2020. Joel lives with his wife in Palm Beach Gardens. He volunteers on the board of NAMI Palm Beach County and the Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society.
