The secret is out. Lake Ida Road is a bypass of Atlantic Avenue from downtown Delray Beach to the western residential neighborhoods, and vice versa.
Glenn Weiss said he’s sharing the road with more drivers today than when he moved to a community off Lake Ida Road four years ago.
“It just seems to me that there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of traffic,” he said.
Weiss knows new construction is bringing new drivers to the road.
But he said drivers like his father use Lake Ida Road as a shortcut to get to downtown Delray.
“I was surprised people from Atlantic Avenue were actually coming up to Lake Ida to use it,” he admitted.
NewsChannel 5 wanted to see if this bypass really does save time. First, we drove down Atlantic Avenue from Hagan Ranch Road to downtown. It took 14 minutes and 27 seconds to get to 2nd Avenue in the heart of Delray Beach.
Taking Lake Ida Road took 13 minutes and 50 seconds, or 37 seconds faster than Atlantic.
Weiss sent a request to the city and county asking engineers to look at ways to help the road handle what he believes is a growing number of cars taking advantage of the timesaver.
“The reality is we have to look at what changes could take place to Lake Ida Road to make it a better road, given the amount of traffic on it,” he said.
Christine Palmisano lives farther east on Lake Ida Road, where it expands to four lanes. She said there is no doubt drivers prefer Lake Ida Road to Atlantic Avenue. But in two years living at her home, she hasn’t experienced any traffic problems.
“I would say the traffic flow is pretty manageable. it’s not too bad,” she said. “Usually I have no problem getting out and making a left or right hand turn.”
Weiss believes it’s best to notify the county and city what he’s seeing now so they can prepare. He hasn’t heard back from either municipality on his request yet.
The most up-to-date data from the county showed a rise in the number of crashes on Lake Ida Road from 2014 to 2015.