{"id":204236,"date":"2026-03-24T18:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/204236\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:23:08","slug":"death-trap-road-in-martin-county-could-take-years-to-fix-sheriff-wants-widening-faster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/204236\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Death trap’ road in Martin County could take years to fix, sheriff wants widening faster"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A stretch of State Road 710 some officials call a \u201cdeath trap\u201d is back in the spotlight, as Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek <\/a>pushes for faster action to improve safety.<\/p>\n

Budensiek addressed county commissioners Tuesday, highlighting ongoing concerns about deadly crashes<\/a> along the corridor that runs through Indiantown and western Martin County.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a consistent pattern of death on this road, and we need to fix it,” Budensiek said.<\/p>\n

According to data presented during the meeting, State Road 710 has seen dozens of fatalities over the past decade, with a consistent number of deadly crashes each year.<\/p>\n

Officials say the road\u2019s design is a major factor, with narrow lanes, limited shoulders and heavy truck traffic creating dangerous conditions, especially when drivers attempt to pass slower vehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Transportation has plans to widen the road, but construction is not expected to begin until 2030.<\/p>\n

Budensiek said that timeline is too far away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can do the project faster, they will,\u201d he said, noting state leaders have pledged support to move the project along.<\/p>\n

See also: 2 dead after shooting at Indian River County Main Library near courthouse<\/a><\/p>\n

In the meantime, local leaders are calling for short-term solutions to improve safety now.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, commissioners raised concerns about what can be done immediately, including additional signage, speed changes and other safety measures while waiting for construction to begin.<\/p>\n

Budensiek said even with enforcement efforts, including thousands of traffic citations issued along the road, the underlying problem remains.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just a crash here or there,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a consistent pattern of death on this road.\u201d<\/p>\n

He plans to continue pushing for progress, with additional meetings scheduled with local leaders and the Florida Department of Transportation in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Officials say without changes, crashes are likely to continue \u2014 even after construction begins \u2014 because the project itself could take several years to complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A stretch of State Road 710 some officials call a \u201cdeath trap\u201d is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-204236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}