Boynton, Manalapan like drawbridge idea, but old doubts persist
Enlarging the inlet and installing a drawbridge would improve boat access to the ocean and possibly improve Intracoastal water quality. ISTOCK photo BELOW LEFT: In 2007, town representatives from Lantana, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes and environmental groups all expressed concerns over the potential of increased flooding if the inlet were widened. Staff map
By John Pacenti
A century ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers slashed the Everglades up and down the coast, taming the swamp with a network of canals so Florida could be habitable.
One of the tiniest cuts was the South Lake Worth Inlet, a 130-foot-wide incision between Ocean Ridge and Manalapan designed to flush pollution to the sea from urban runoff and from sugar cane and vegetable fields around Lake Okeechobee…