Florida DOT Advances State Road 7 Extension in Palm Beach County After Years of Controversy

A hotly debated road extension in Palm Beach County, Fla., may soon become a reality following years of litigation surrounding the project’s environmental impacts.

According to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the State Road 7 Extension is currently in the design phase, and construction is expected to begin in Spring 2028.

The extension would reconstruct the 60th Street roundabout to connect Northlake Boulevard to Okeechobee Boulevard, WPTV reported. 

Other aspects of the project include widening from two to four lanes from Okeechobee Boulevard to 60th Street and the construction of a new four-lane divided facility from 60th Street to Northlake Boulevard. It also includes new bridges over the M-canal and Ibis Preserve Spillway, FDOT’s project website states. 

The $137.6 million project also includes safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, including bicycle lanes and sidewalks on the south segment, a shared use path in the northern segment, as well as improvements to drainage, traffic signals, lighting, landscaping and design features to support wildlife connectivity, according to FDOT’s website. 

Community Divides

The SR 7 Extension has long been a cause of controversy in the community, with opponents citing concerns over increased traffic around the Ibis country club area and the project’s environmental impacts, WPTV reported. The project’s supporters argue that the extension would ease congestion and improve emergency response times. 

According to WPTV, FDOT said the road extension would support the area’s population growth by providing a shorter route for north-south drivers. 

Concerns over the project’s plan to direct stormwater runoff into the Ibis Lake system led the City of West Palm Beach to sue FDOT and Palm Beach County. An administrative judge ruled in favor of FDOT and the county, though the city has appealed the decision, according to WPTV. The city is concerned that the stormwater runoff could impact the Grassy Waters Preserve, the city’s main drinking supply.

In an email to Roads & Bridges, FDOT's District 4 Roadway Design Engineer Scott Peterson said the agency has reconfigured the project to ensure that no drainage discharge "will outfall into the preserve" through the addition of "multiple layers of protection." 

"The portion of the road that runs adjacent to the Grassy Waters Preserve is buffered and isolated from the preserve," Peterson said, adding that the preserve is separated from the roadway with the construction of a guardrail, the 12-foot shared-use path, a dry swale, a berm, a conveyance channel, a sheet pile wall and approximately 150-feet of FDOT right of way "which will remain undisturbed."

Peterson said the agency made several changes to reduce the project's footprint, which include: 

• Reducing the size of the median in certain areas from 22 feet to 15 feet
• Increasing the use of retaining walls to eliminate slopes
• Constructing closed piping instead of an open swale south of the M-Canal
• Eliminating the drainage discharge in the Ibis community lake system 
• Changing a three-span bridge to a single-span bridge to eliminate pilings in the water over a sensitive area known as the spillway

He said these changes were largely made "as a result of concerns raised by the City of West Palm Beach."

The agency began working on revisions in early 2020, and completed before permits were submitted in 2023, Peterson added. 

The agency addressed noise concerns with the planned installation of noise barriers at Ibis Reserve Apartments and the Baywinds Residential Community.

The transportation department has scheduled two public meetings in late February on the proposed extension.

Phased Construction

FDOT has announced the project will be conducted in phases to reduce community impacts, and will implement short-term, temporary detours when constructing the connections to Orange Grove and Persimmon boulevards, according to a project flyer. The temporary detours will both be limited to one weekend each and implemented at different times. 

According to WPTV, the project’s first $43.4 million phase will launch in Spring 2028 with the connection of Okeechobee Boulevard north to 60th Street and is expected to be completed in Spring 2031.

The project’s second phase from 60th Street to Northlake Boulevard, costing $94.2 million, is scheduled to start in Fall 2028 and run through Fall 2031.

Sources: FDOT Project Flyer, State Road 7 Extension Project Website, WPTV