Port St. Lucie (Miami, Fort Pierce, Palm Beach Gardens: to rent, home, neighborhood)

[pslOldTimer]

Julz, you can try the Becker Rd back way and see if it's any quicker. Becker Rd east to the end, right on Mapp Rd, follow to the round-a-bout at High Meadow. Take High Meadow to Martin Downs Blvd, then east across the Palm City Bridge. Left on Colorado to US Hwy 1. The traffic will not move fast because of speed limits, but it will move steadily, with most commuters being experienced and few holding things up. You will likely hit a bottleneck in Palm City and just after the bridge; sooner or later those conservatives in Martin County may get around to building the absolutely essential second bridge.

I live off Floresta between the turnpike and the river, but even being closer to US 1, I try to avoid PSL Blvd and US 1. I take the new Southbend extension past Tesoro to Becker, then follow the above directions. Coming from Gatlin, you might also try the Southbend route, by turning right at Bayshore after crossing the turnpike bridge, as if you were going to get on the turnpike, but then jog left and follow Bayshore around to Oak something until you get to the bridge into Southbend.

You might also consider taking the turnpike from Bayshore to the Palm City exit, then going east on Martin Downs Blvd and over the Palm City Bridge. That would be faster than Becker Rd, and maybe faster than US1 depending on the Palm City traffic, but will cost you a toll. I think it's 50 cents with Sunpass.

That pretty much exhausts all the possibilities. You're just going to have to try each and see which suits you better. But, because of the St.Lucie River, there are no other ways -- it's either the PSL Blvd bridge or the Palm City bridge.

[julz]

Thanks again pslOldTimer.I will try a different way each time.

[toyorotor]

psloldtimer,
Thanks for the little history lesson on becker rd, I always wondered what that little barn thing was....lol
And you're right about the toyota with a rotary...lol but its not a starlet, Its a corolla with a rotary. but let me know what you have for the starlet? i have a few friends that have some still.

[OoAnd1]

This is my first post...I've read this forum for a while...very informative.

Anyway, I have a question, does anyone know if St. Lucie West Blvd will be widened to 6 lanes? How about the 2 lane bridge over I-95? With more and more commercial being built on either side of I-95 on St. Lucie West Blvd....the more lanes the better.

Thnx in advance to anyone kind enough to answer.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by julz

Anyone know when the Turnpike\Becker Rd exit will open? Also, just took a job in downtown Stuart area.Is there a quicker route than Port St.Lucie Blvd to Federal? I'm in the Gatlin/Tulip area.Thanks!

Oh, that's a pretty rough commute! The summer after highschool I took a job in South Stuart, almost to Hobe Sound and drove from my house near Gatlin/California Blvd every day. Took forever!!!

The Becker Rd. turnpike ramp is supposed to be open this Month!!:

http://www.floridasturnpike.com/cons...SouthFla.cfm#5

I'd give it a couple more months, I suppose! However, you could just take PSL Blvd. down to the turnpike and take that into Stuart in the meantime! Anything to avoid US-1, as my mother likes to say!

[pslOldTimer]

Good questions, and I don't have a definitive answer, but my bet is that neither will happen soon.

Instead of adding lanes to St. Lucie West Blvd, they are constructing the Crosstown Parkway which will parallel a couple of miles South. There will be an I-95 interchange, and it will greatly relieve SLW Blvd traffic.

Most of the traffic West of I-95 is residential to PGA Village and Legacy (the Reserve), except for the southbound I-95 ramp, of course. The Crosstown will relieve a lot of that, as well.

[OoAnd1]

Originally Posted by pslOldTimer

Good questions, and I don't have a definitive answer, but my bet is that neither will happen soon.

Instead of adding lanes to St. Lucie West Blvd, they are constructing the Crosstown Parkway which will parallel a couple of miles South. There will be an I-95 interchange, and it will greatly relieve SLW Blvd traffic.

Most of the traffic West of I-95 is residential to PGA Village and Legacy (the Reserve), except for the southbound I-95 ramp, of course. The Crosstown will relieve a lot of that, as well.

Thnx for the response. I did a little checking online and found a web page discussing road improvements in psl such as the Crosstown Parkway you mentioned and the widening of Bayshore. But it also mentioned that developers from PGA are supposed to widen St. Lucie West Blvd to 6 lanes (including bridge) from Commerce Center in PGA to Peacock Blvd. Not very long, maybe a mile...but it should help.

Although Crosstown would relieve some traffic from those wanting to go east it doesn't really help relieve traffic from people just wanting to shop, dine or go to a game at St. Lucie West. I got a little worried because with the new shopping and dinning that will be developed in PGA, new infrastructure will be necessary.

St. Lucie West is great, but if they 6 lane it to the turnpike bridge (which is already 6 lanes) it would be a lot smoother. I would like to add that I'm not the type of person that wants to 6-lane every road, Bayshore, for example, is fine with 4 lanes...but St. Lucie West is a different beast.

[LingLing]

Hi PslOldtimer,
Yes. I am from Asian. We tried the Vietnamese restaurant. It is pretty good (we haven’t tried all their dishes yet). We also found a Korean restaurant on US1. It is also pretty good. We haven't found a good Chinese restaurant. If you know any, let me know. Thank you very much.

[momix5]

PSL is not a realtor, he just knows what he is talking about my sister lives in PSL and everything he says is true. He is a true blessing to this post.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by LingLing

Hi PslOldtimer,
Yes. I am from Asian. We tried the Vietnamese restaurant. It is pretty good (we haven’t tried all their dishes yet). We also found a Korean restaurant on US1. It is also pretty good. We haven't found a good Chinese restaurant. If you know any, let me know. Thank you very much.

The only good Chinese I have found is China Star...I think it's on St. James...it's in the plaza with the Publix over there. I live in St. Lucie West, and there are 2 or 3 places around here that we have tried and they weren't just not good...they were terrible! China Star is really fast, and, in my opinion, their food is great.