Key West Triathlon to impact traffic

Motorists are asked to be patient and to plan ahead this Saturday morning, Dec. 7, as the Key West Triathlon is expected it impact traffic from the Triangle to Rockland Key.

The event will roughly occur from approximately 7 a.m. to approximately 11 a.m. The part of the race most impacting county traffic will be the bike portion of the event. The bicyclists will begin at Higgs Beach in Key West before proceeding to Atlantic Boulevard. They will make the left onto South Roosevelt Boulevard and then the right onto U.S. 1. The bikers will proceed to Rockland Drive on Rockland Key where they will turn around and reverse course back to Higgs Beach. (The run and swim portions of the event occur in the city of Key West.)

Thus, the impacted areas in the county will be Stock Island, Key Haven, Boca Chica Key and Rockland Key.

• Northbound vehicle traffic out of Key West on U.S. 1 will be limited to one lane during the above times.

• At Key Haven Road, ALL traffic will be diverted to the southbound lanes of U.S. 1 to Rockland Key at Mile Marker 10. Northbound traffic will use one lane and Southbound traffic will use the other lane of the southbound side of U.S. 1.  

• MacDonald Avenue and 5^th Street on Stock Island will be closed for the event.

All motorists, especially those northbound drivers leaving Key West and Stock Island, should expect slow traffic times, plan ahead and give themselves extra time to get to their destination.

Traffic will return to normal immediately after the event.