Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard will be undergoing a $37 million makeover into a modern thoroughfare between Gatlin Boulevard and Becker Road starting next fall.
The road improvements are expected to ease the commute of thousands of Port St. Lucie residents who use Becker Road to access Interstate 95 and Florida’s Turnpike, said City Manager Russ Blackburn.
“It’s a very important project for the city and all of our residents,” Blackburn said.
Florida Department of Transportation and Port St. Lucie are teaming up in the next decade to pay for four projects covering nearly 3.5 miles along the southern end of the city’s namesake street. FDOT and city officials held a public information workshop about the Port St. Lucie Boulevard projects on March 12 at the St. Lucie County Transportation Planning Organization offices.
Port St. Lucie Boulevard is currently six lanes from U.S. 1 to Gatlin Boulevard, four lanes from Gatlin to Darwin Square and two lanes from the shopping center to Becker Road.
The first project calls for the $6 million reconstruction of the four-lane roadway between Gatlin Boulevard and Darwin Square.
Roughly 32,000 vehicles per day travel that 2/3rd-mile stretch of the boulevard, county traffic records show.
The project includes the installation of an 18-foot-wide curbed median in Port St. Lucie Boulevard and turn lanes at the intersections to smooth traffic flow. The drainage and lighting systems will be upgraded and sidewalks will be constructed on both sides of the boulevard, city records show. Work is expected to start in fall 2020 and wrap up by summer 2022, city records show.
The three other projects involve widening Port St. Lucie Boulevard to four lanes from two lanes on the 2.8-mile long stretch from Darwin Square south to Becker Road.
Roughly 13,310 vehicles per day use the road, county traffic records show.
Construction on the 2/3rd-mile-long segment between Darwin Square and Alcantara Boulevard is set to start in fall 2023 and be completed by spring 2026, city records show. It will cost $6.5 million.
The funding and scheduling of the two other projects have not yet been established, city officials said. They are expected to cost $25 million combined.
Several city residents who attended the info workshop said they expect the boulevard improvements to make it easier to get around. “It can’t come soon enough,” said Pete Desbins, a Southwest McComb Avenue homeowner, about the road work. “There’s too much traffic. It definitely needs to be widened.”
Melissa Stillman, a Southwest McDevitt Avenue resident, said Port St. Lucie Boulevard “has gotten very busy – too busy.”
“I’m happy they’re doing this,” Stillman said about the road projects. “We could definitely use a change. It looks like it’s going to be beneficial for my neighborhood.”
But Val Hoyniak, who has owned a house on Southwest Aurelia Avenue for 40 years, said widening Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard to four lanes may not be enough to handle the city’s growth.
“They’re going to be obsolete by the time they get them done,” Hoyniak said about the additional lanes. “Traffic is jammed up all over the place now.”