As traffic woes build, county and FDOT at odds over Royal Park Bridge lane closures

Traffic around the Royal Park Bridge came to a standstill Tuesday when a contractor working on a Florida Department of Transportation painting project temporarily closed the bridge gates, leaving motorists fuming and prompting a swift response from the county.

Motorists already were dealing with gridlock created by intermittent lane closures on the bridge, particularly along eastbound Okeechobee Boulevard during the morning commute hours.

But the situation was made worse after the bridge gates were closed, prompting the traffic signal to go through bridge preemption, said Motasem Al-Turk, the director of the traffic division in the county’s Engineering and Public Works department.

In an email Tuesday to Jonathan Overton, a district traffic operations engineer with FDOT, Al-Turk said the bridge preemption "puts the signals on both east- and westbound Okeechobee Boulevard on continuous red."

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Traffic backups already extend from Flagler Dive to Interstate 95 every morning, Al-Turk wrote. He urged FDOT to keep all lanes open on the Royal Park Bridge weekdays between 7 and 9 a.m. and 4 and 6 p.m.

FDOT owns the Royal Park Bridge, which is one of three that connects Palm Beach to West Palm Beach over the Intracoastal Waterway.

"It is an FDOT and PBC standard practice not to allow lane closures on major roads during peak hour traffic periods," Al-Turk wrote. "And also, the contractor should not be allowed to lower the bridge gates at any time without prior coordination with our TMC staff."

FDOT initially agreed to cooperate with the county on both requests, Al-Turk said Wednesday, but backtracked Thursday on lane closures.

In an email to Al-Turk, Overton said a misunderstanding led him to "incorrectly indicate" that the project's contractor would keep all travel lanes on the bridge open during peak travel hours.

"I have been informed that the contractor is allowed to keep the eastbound outside lane closed on the bridge to perform bridge painting activities," he said.

Additionally, Overton wrote, the contractor has been instructed not to use the bridge's travel lane gates to control traffic for any construction activity.

Painting on the Royal Park Bridge began in May as part of a $2.3 million FDOT project.

Occasional lane closures on the bridge started in June and are expected to continue until work is completed in the spring.

Overnight closings of the eastbound lanes were in effect Sunday to Thursday this week. The westbound lanes were closed overnight for the same duration in August.

The start of the project was delayed from last September at the request of Palm Beach officials, who had expressed concerns about traffic impacts during the busy winter season.

"The town’s population increases significantly from November to April, which greatly impacts the amount of traffic across the Royal Park Bridge," Mayor Danielle Moore wrote last summer in a letter to FDOT officials. "Since this project requires one westbound lane of traffic to be closed, having a significant portion of the project occur during high season will cause gridlock entering and exiting the Town of Palm Beach."

But with the start of the school year and residents returning for the season, traffic has been building, and is likely to get worse. The planned completion date means that despite the shift in the project's start, much of the painting and subsequent traffic delays will occur during the island's busy season.

Moore told the Daily News Friday that she understood the frustration caused by the traffic delays, but she remains hopeful the painting project will be completed earlier than anticipated.

"When we look at the traffic situation, I think people are already frustrated, especially people who live here more of the year than others," she said. "You get back, you're taking your kid to school, and then the arms go down and they never go up. I can certainly understand why everybody would be angry. But I do believe, barring a storm or some sort of a catastrophe, we anticipate they will be finished prior to their scheduled date."

Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: County, FDOT at odds over gate, lane closures on Royal Park Bridge