BOYNTON BEACH — Although some important finishing touches are needed, Flavor Pict Road is no longer the "road to nowhere," as it came to be known locally after years of delays.
The road, which now connects Lyons Road to State Road 7 in western Boynton Beach, officially opened to traffic July 4. Before then, it stopped about 2,100 feet east of the state highway, hence its name.
The connection is expected to alleviate traffic congestion west of Boynton Beach by providing an east-west link to State Road 7. Specifically, it will target traffic on Lyons Road, between Boynton Beach Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue. Thousands of new homes have been built in that area.
Though construction is complete, tape arrows, rather than painted, mark the pavement. And it isn't clear whether a stoplight will be added at the three-way intersection (eventually a four-way in a few more years), but making a left turn north onto Lyons Road can be tricky with a partially blocked median and vehicles traveling north around 50 mph.
Flavor Pict Road extension: A road six years in the making
The Flavor Pict Road project started in October 2017. It was meant to have been completed by Sept. 5, 2018, but a road realignment requested by GL Homes pushed the project back four years — and then two more.
In October 2022, Palm Beach County commissioners met and approved the roughly $3.6 million project to complete Flavor Pict Road. The remainder of construction was completed by Lake Worth Beach construction company Rosso Site Development Inc., and took about eight months.
As for the remaining connector between Lyons and Hagen Ranch roads, plans are moving forward for a $37 million bridge over Florida’s Turnpike that would takeLyons Road motoristsfrom Flavor Pict east to Hagen Ranch, a long-awaited project to address traffic congestion in the region west ofBoynton Beach.
Palm Beach County commissioners on May 14 approved a $2.2 million contract to hire Kimley-Horn and Associates to design the project. It would extend Flavor Pict with a four-lane roadway (expandable to six lanes) and a six-lane bridge over the turnpike, along with curbs and gutters at the median, a bike lane, sidewalks, drainage, signing and traffic signals.
The overall length of the new road is 1.7 miles. The design work is expected to take about two years.
The Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency expects construction to begin in fiscal year 2028, but that depends on the county providing more than $26 million in funding.
New homes caused delays at Flavor Pict Road
After the project started in 2017, GL Homes paid $50 million for the large strip of land that is now Valencia Sound, a 653-residence, high-end development west of Boynton Beach.
The housing complex's name may sound familiar, as GL Homes sued the Valencia Sound homeowners association in December 2022 for charging its buyers a $5,140 "capital contribution fund." The lawsuit was settled in March, and the HOA for Valencia Sound refunded nearly $100,000 to the roughly 20 recent buyers who were improperly charged.
But construction of Valencia Sound is what held up the completion of the extension. After its purchase of the land for the development, GL Homes called on the county to change the road alignment from its planned curved design to a straight one, allowing for around 30 more homes to be built. The county has since asked GL Homes to pay $1.7 million in reimbursem*nt fees for the alignment change.
Construction continues at Lyons Road and Atlantic Avenue
Also expected to be completed this month is construction paving at Lyons Road and Atlantic Avenue. The intersection has been in the works for nearly two years now.
It's part of the Lyons Road widening project, which was supposed to be completed in October 2022. Undetected utility lines discovered by the contractor delayed the project twice. The removal of these utility lines forced work stoppages of more than six months. Supply-chain issues and the COVID-19 pandemic also held up the project.
But the Palm Beach County Department of Engineering assures the project's completion by the end of July.
"Paving is progressing well at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Lyons Road," Deputy County Engineer Joanne Keller said in a July 4 statement. "That project is still on track to complete this month."
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Mike Diamond contributed to this report.
Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach heratjfernandez@pbpost.comand follow heron X (formerly Twitter) at@jasminefernandz. Help support our work.Subscribe today.
