Drivers in Fort Lauderdale are hitting a roadblock next week: The Henry E. Kinney Tunnel will shut down for several days due to improvement projects, officials warned. Starting bright and early at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16, the funnel for US-1 traffic under the New River and Las Olas Boulevard will be sealed off until 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, promising pesky delays for motorists in the area, as NBC Miami reported.
Traffic headaches are expected to intensify due to this temporary closure, and detours will be plastered across the cityscape, shunting northbound US-1 vehicles via Southeast Seventh Street to Third Avenue and then along Broward Boulevard, southbound cars will get rerouted using a reverse course starting at Broward Boulevard to Third Avenue, swinging onto Davie Boulevard, all in a dance of redirection, as per Local 10.
The Florida Department of Transportation has outlined the reason behind the closure: workers will dive into a litany of tasks including replacing fans in the north ventilation building, installing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) conduits, setting up concrete poles, and pulling wires, leaving no stone unturned in this phase of the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel Improvements project, the city spokesperson Arlene Borenstein detailed in an email reported by Local 10.
With clear detour signs slated to guide disillusioned drivers, officials are strapping in for a bumpy transition period, but there lies a silver lining - brighter days with a spruced-up tunnel on the horizon, though some may be hard-pressed to see it amongst the chaos of crane swings and the orchestra of jackhammers tearing through the days, foretelling of the planned progress orchestrated by the Florida Department of Transportation, according to NBC Miami.
