Why the new Sixth Avenue South bridge still hasn't opened, more than year after work began
GREENACRES — The opening of the Sixth Avenue South bridge , a major gateway to Greenacres, Palm Springs and Lake Worth Beach , has been delayed again and won't happen at least until the end of October.
Palm Beach County officials cited a new construction problem they have encountered in rebuilding the 50-year-old span across Lake Osborne, which closed to traffic in August 2023.
Inspectors found a damaged stormwater pipe while touring the site in September. The discovery followed one in May where officials learned that some of the concrete used to repair the bridge had failed to meet quality standards.
Officials in Greenacres, Palm Springs and Lake Worth Beach said the bridge is crucial for cars and trucks to reach their communities from Interstate 95, and its year-long closure has worsened traffic for residents, business owners and Palm Beach State College, one of the area's largest employers.
"It just seems that this has been one mistake after another," Greenacres Mayor Chuck Shaw said. "Everybody's patience is over with. Nobody thinks it will ever open."
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A county study found the bridge, built in the 1970s, needed to be replaced to make it safer for trucks and to add sidewalks and bike lanes linking residents to PBSC and John Prince Park.
Construction work began on the $11 million project in August 2023, shutting off access to Sixth Avenue South from from South Congress Avenue to Grove Street.
County officials said the bridge was scheduled to open in June, but a consultant found the problems with the concrete and said an area the size of a single-family home required replacement. While those repairs were occurring, inspectors found the stormwater pipe that needed to be patched.
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Crews used flowable cement to plug the hole, and a contractor is performing tests with ground-penetrating radar to see whether all the subsurface voids that the break caused have been filled.
More tests are needed, and the county can't set an opening date until it knows the problem is repaired, officials said.
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Bridge's closure forces traffic onto local roads not built to handle it
Lake Worth City Manger Jamie Brown said the bridge is one of the three main access roads to his city and its closure has spilled traffic into smaller community roads that weren't intended to handle it.
Brown added the bridge's replacement was necessary and that it needs to be safe to support the area's growing population.
"We know that residents are frustrated," he said. "At the end of the day you want something that is structurally sound, done correctly. That's the most important thing, that it is done."
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Shaw said the continuous delays call for more oversight of the project from the county.
"It was supposed to be a short-term project," he said. "This is becoming such a bad issue and it doesn't seem to have an end."
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Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at Support local journalism: Subscribe today .
