Planners are deep into the design phase of a new interchange that should soon make the ride from Interstate 95 to the Sawgrass Expressway in Deerfield Beach a lot smoother, depending on how you define “soon.”
The Atlanta-based design group WSP has unveiled its plan to revamp the Southwest 10th Street exit on I-95, which now has drivers going directly from the expressway into local traffic. For westbound travelers looking to get to the Sawgrass Expressway, traffic lights are in place at the exit and at Military Trail.
Under the new design, drivers exiting I-95 will have the option of taking an overpass directly onto westbound Southwest 10th Street, bypassing the traffic lights and heading directly to the Sawgrass, with another overpass planned over Powerline Road.
The I-95/SW 10th Street Connector Interchange is part of a massive project intended to separate local and expressway traffic along 10th Street, which has become increasingly burdened by the combination of local neighborhood traffic and vehicles forced through the area on their way to and from either Palm Beach County or downtown Fort Lauderdale.
“We’re confident that routing non-local traffic onto dedicated connector lanes will help reduce travel time at peak hours by up to eight minutes for local traffic and as much as 14 minutes for highway traffic over current times,” Yamila Hernandez, vice president and project manager at WSP, said in a news release issued Friday. “That’s meaningful when you are trying to pick up your child at daycare or get to an appointment on time.”
Last month the Broward County Commission approved some canal improvements and other proposals required to bring the long-awaited connector project to fruition. The plans initially met with some neighborhood resistance, though now it appears many have come around to the belief that the years of construction will be worth it.
The state Department of Transportation published on its website a preliminary project schedule, which estimated a construction phase could start this year and potentially run through 2032.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.