Light rail proposed from Wellington to West Palm Beach

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A new travel option to get around town could be coming to Palm Beach County.

The Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency has proposed to add a light rail system linking downtown West Palm Beach to The Mall at Wellington Green to help ease congestion.

In 2025, the Department of Transportation is expected to conduct a feasibility study to decide if the proposal should move forward.

Residents living in Palm Beach County near Okeechobee Boulevard and State Road 7 say traffic troubles are on the rise.

“It’s getting worse, the more people move in, it’s getting busier and busier,” Anthony Cruz said.

It’s one of the county’s busiest corridors that see’s upwards of 70,000 cars daily, according to PBTPA.

“This is something that we think will alleviate headaches for people as we start to improve transit now for existing users but also in the future as we launch new services,” PBTPA Multimodal Deputy Director Brian Ruscher said.

The 13.5-mile stretch would include a route of 17 stops and run along the center median of Okeechobee Boulevard and State Road 7. With a ride time of 39 minutes, Ruscher said it’s all aimed at easing travel headaches and adding a safe travel option for commuters.

“We studied the corridor for a number of years and we found that there were dozens of fatalities traffic related crashes,” Ruscher said.

According to PBTPA, from 2019 to 2021 the busy corridor saw more than 4,794 crashes, 16 of them were fatal.

Some residents agree the project is a step in the right direction.

“It would help if people use it and it was economical and convenient you know it comes down to convenience,” Rodney Chen said.

Others are not on board, citing crime concerns.

The first thing that comes to my head is transient people and all that stuff and it’s a tight knit community you know what I’m saying,” Cruz said.

“I don’t think that the people that are driving right now are actually going to use that, Amanda Torres said. “I just feel like it’s going to bring a lot of rift raft into the neighborhoods and even now, the crime seems to have gone up.”

The cost for project right is about $850 million and most of those funds would come from federal and state dollars.

In addition to getting the green light from FDOT, the project still has a few more hurdles.

Transit leaders say it could take at least 10 years to build if approved.