WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — There is good news for those who work, live and visit downtown West Palm Beach. After more than two years of construction cones, all lanes of Banyan Boulevard are back open.
For frustrated commuters on a construction-filled roadway, this has been a longtime coming.
"It's been horrific," David Nyman said. "We actually live about two blocks from Banyan and, you know, the street has become useless to us."
The $20 million project was designed to make driving, biking and walking easier. For Nyman, it's peace of mind.
"A short trip downtown from where I live, which is just half a mile from here, can take 35 minutes," Nyman said. "It's crazy."
The city warned this project would take time.
"As we progress, we're going to go from eastbound closures to westbound closures," Armando Fana, assistant city administrator for West Palm Beach, told WPTV last year. "The whole project is about a two-year project, so it is quite a long project, but it will allow for more capacity."
Even with this completed project, construction continues elsewhere downtown and residents still have other concerns.
"So much construction," Nyman said. "I mean, every place you go, there's construction and delays because of it. It was nothing like this 12 years ago."
These growing buildings also creating growing pains.
"It keeps growing and getting more populated and I'm sure it will keep getting more populated through the years, so we kind of just have to deal with that for now," Bryan Medina said. "I know sometimes things take longer to complete, but, you know, slowly but surely, we'll get there."