Motorists already weary from seemingly years-long construction projects along State Road A1A, the island’s main artery, now have yet another obstacle to deal with as the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) installs a new pedestrian crosswalk at Pelican Plaza.

The work for the new enhanced crosswalk to benefit beachgoers in the area is being carried out by FDOT’s contractor, Treasure Coast Push Button. It was scheduled to start Monday and is supposed to be concluded by the end of the month.

“There will be intermittent temporary lane closures during the installation of pavement markings,” said Kris Kehres, the operations engineer for FDOT’s Treasure Coast Operations, who is based in Fort Pierce, in answer to a resident’s question.

Gullermo Canedo, FDOT’s District 4 Information Officer at district headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, added that the pedestrian improvement project, at the intersection of A1A and Bahia Mar, is being undertaken for the sake of pedestrian safety.

Even though a traffic light already exists at the intersection, the pedestrian crossing at the light is not clearly marked on the roadway at present, and residents of the nearby Bethel Isle neighborhood are often seen scurrying across the road en route to or from the beach carrying surfboards and other gear, especially during the busy traffic season that just ended.

No serious accidents between pedestrians and motor vehicles have been reported in recent times, but residents are said to be pleased to see the safety improvements.

The crosswalk construction includes the addition of curb ramps, pavement markings and pedestrian trackers with warning lights to motorists that pedestrians are in the process of crossing the busy road.

Signs warning motorists that new construction was about to start on Monday went up along SR A1A about 100 yards south and north of the site about two weeks ago, leaving some motorists along the route, as well as nearby residents and business managers, wondering what it was about, since no other information was made available.

Canedo explained that the pedestrian crosswalk addition, which is expected cost only about $25,000, was too small a project to be added to the list of ongoing construction projects in the area on the FDOT website.

That absence of information left an owner of one nearby business worrying that the construction project might be bigger in scale. “I just hope they finish whatever they’re doing by the end of the summer and before our new season starts,” said the businessman.

It appears that for now, he’ll get his wish, although more A1A construction might still be hanging over everyone’s head. 

The present crosswalk installation at Pelican Plaza is separate from another possible new pedestrian crosswalk that had been requested by the Town of Indian River Shores at the CVS and the 7-Eleven convenience store less than a mile further north, also to improve pedestrian safety.

Approval of that project is awaiting the results of a third FDOT traffic study to measure vehicle volume in the area in different seasons. Previous studies had not indicated sufficient traffic volume to warrant such an addition, but some of the traffic counts were taken out of season and the town urged FDOT to ignore those results and test again.