$5.4 million resurfacing project set to roll across downtown's main avenues after Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival

LAKE AND LUCERNE avenues will be covered with colorful murals this Saturday and Sunday when more than 600 artists scrawl chalk masterpieces on asphalt at the annual Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival.  

Two days later, the artists will be replaced by construction workers launching a $5.4 million road resurfacing project — a ‘street paving festival’ of sorts — that will cover a 2.3-mile stretch of the main downtown avenues with fresh layers of asphalt. 

The work will last about a year and be done in phases, starting Feb. 27 with the construction of new sidewalks, curbs, lighting and guardrails on the north side of Lucerne Avenue at Golfview Road. 

Crews will work their way west, redoing sidewalks, curbs and lighting on both avenues in sections, a process expected to take about six months. By the end of summer and early fall, the actual road resurfacing will begin. 

Although the project will take place in the heart of downtown, it should have minimal impacts on vehicular traffic, project managers with the state Department of Transportation said at a public open house Feb. 15. 

Crews from General Asphalt Co. will conduct the resurfacing work overnight from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Since Lake and Lucerne are each two-way roads (eastbound on Lake, westbound on Lucerne), the paving will be done one lane at a time, meaning that one lane of traffic will be kept open while the adjacent lane is milled and resurfaced. 

“We don’t like to impact the traveling public if we can avoid it. The vast majority of the paving will be at night,’’ said Michael Miller, a DOT construction project manager. 

The repaving is expected to start on Lucerne at Golfview Drive and work its way west to A Street where it will resume south on Lake Avenue and work its way east to Golfview Road at the west end of the Lake Worth Bridge. 

Small sections of A Street, Dixie Highway and Federal Highway also will be repaved. 

“Our plan has us hopping around a lot, doing different sidewalks sections so we don't impact business in one location too much,’’ Miller said. 

The finished roads will have freshly-painted stripes and bike lanes. The sidewalks will have new ramps in compliance with ADA standards. Damaged tree grates on the sidewalks will be replaced. 

“We are looking forward to getting in and getting out as quickly as possible and doing a good job for the folks of Lake Worth Beach,’’ Miller said.

Barring any significant weather delays, the project should be done in time so artists at the 2025 street painting festival can cover the fresh layers of asphalt with new murals.  

City commissioner Reinaldo Diaz, who attended the DOT open house at the Lake Worth Library on Feb. 15, said the project’s minor inconveniences will be worth it in the end. 

“There will probably be some traffic woes, but it's been work that has been needed for so long,’’ he said. “It’s been years and years, if not decades, that we have been waiting for this. It's really important.’’

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About the author

Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.