GREENACRES, Fla. — After months of raising concerns about a crumbling, 100-year-old dirt road in Palm Beach County, residents along Springfield Street finally got a chance to sit down with county leaders in search of answers.
WATCH BELOW: 'I want to make sure we continue that,' Commissioner Joel Flores tells WPTV
The meeting, organized by District 3 Commissioner Joel Flores, brought together the Palm Beach County Engineering and Public Works Department, the Lake Worth Drainage District, and the Office of Community Revitalization. The goal: listen to residents and begin working toward a solution.
WPTV's Vannia Joseph first reported on the road in July, when Greenacres resident Janet Morgano described cars getting stuck, crumbling canal banks, and the dangers of no guardrails. Since then, more neighbors, like Alexa Bard, have shared their concerns.
"It just seems like an accident waiting to happen," Bard told WPTV, noting it only takes a few steps from her parking lot to the edge of the ravine.
At the community meeting, officials explained that Springfield Street is technically a private road, created in 1926 and never adopted for county maintenance.
Region C Palm Beach County
'Accident waiting to happen': Residents plead for guardrails, road repairs
"It's technically considered a private road, meaning that there's no entity responsible for maintenance," said David Ricks, Director of Palm Beach County Engineering and Public Works.
Bringing the road up to county standards would cost millions.
"Looking at the road, it's about a $5 million project to do this length and that length," Ricks said.
Instead, the Lake Worth Drainage District is focusing on short-term safety measures. Assistant Executive Director Reagen Walker said traffic has worsened the condition of the dirt road and canal banks.
WATCH BELOW: 'The mailman got stuck here,' Janet Morgano tells WPTV's Vannia Joseph
"All of those folks are using it, because they see it's a straight shot, but it's an unsafe straight shot, because there's a lot of soft sand in there and it's really not meant to be a roadway that's traversed regularly," Walker explained.
Her team is proposing new signage, right-of-way access gates to reduce cut-through traffic, reporting to Google Maps to divert drivers, and adding guardrails and warning signs near the canal. These fixes would be covered by the county, not residents.
For Commissioner Flores, the meeting was about accountability and starting fresh.
Greenacres
'Who's responsible for this': Resident demands action over 99-year-old road
"Unfortunately, one of the things that I learned today was that the last time we met with this neighborhood was 2006," Flores said. "That's missed opportunity. That's been 19 years that we haven't had dialogue, so I want to make sure we continue that."
For Morgano, who first raised the alarm, progress couldn't come soon enough.
"I'm excited to see things take place, and to stop the people getting stuck on that road, so they don't have to come knocking on my door," she said.
While a complete overhaul of the century-old road isn't on the table, neighbors say the new attention and safety fixes are a step toward lasting solutions.
