TGL golf to add to traffic in Palm Beach Gardens on match nights. What's the city's plan?

TGL golf to add to traffic in Palm Beach Gardens on match nights. What’s the city’s plan?

Posted by Admin December 24, 2024 Golf

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Palm Beach Gardens officials want SoFi Center visitors to take one route to get there. The matches start in January and could draw up to 1,500 fans.

PALM BEACH GARDENS – Drivers can expect to see more traffic on PGA Boulevard between Military Trail and Prosperity Farms Road once the SoFi Center indoor golf arena opens in January, and police have a plan to deal with it.

The arena towers over Palm Beach State College’s Palm Beach Gardens campus and has seating for about 1,500 people.

Teams of players from around the world will compete in the TGL team at the SoFi Center starting Jan. 7 at 9 p.m. TGL is the interactive golf league led by PGA Tour players Tiger Woods, who lives in Jupiter Island, and Rory McIlroy, who has a home in Jupiter.

This season, it will host two-hour weekly matches — some on Mondays and others on Tuesdays — through March.

Police chief: PGA Boulevard route is ‘better traffic flow for everybody’

Police want spectators to enter and exit the campus at a specific road along PGA Boulevard east of The Gardens Mall — one about one-quarter mile east of Campus Drive.

They want drivers to enter from PGA onto Minsk Gardens Boulevard and then park at one of two lots totaling 731 spaces just west of the campus library. Visitors then would walk over to the stadium. PBSC will reserve a separate campus parking lot for students.

After the matches, motorists will exit eastbound onto PGA Boulevard. To head west toward Interstate 95 and Florida’s Turnpike, they would make U-turns along PGA from there.

The city will also designate a ride share drop-off and pick-up point nearby for people who take Uber and Lyft rides.

“We’re trying to keep the traffic flow out of the neighborhoods and residential areas,” said Police Chief Dominick Pape. “We believe the better traffic flow for everybody is coming in and off of PGA Boulevard.”

Pape said officers would do everything they can to deter drivers from taking other roads to the PBSC campus, such as RCA Boulevard, a narrow road surrounded by small neighborhoods.

Crews will install signs directing people where to go around campus, Pape said. Eight or nine police officers and one supervisor will direct traffic one half-hour before and after events. TGL also plans to hire people to stand outside with signs and flags to show drivers where to go, the chief said.

“If (visitors) come in from another way, then they have to work their way up through the campus,” Pape said. “We would get congestion and (RCA Boulevard) is kind of tight because it’s only a two-lane road.”

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.