Palm Beach is calling for more changes to bridge-opening schedules, as the town works with federal, county and other local officials to find relief for the traffic congestion plaguing the island.
A request Mayor Danielle Moore sent Jan. 6 to the U.S. Coast Guard comes amid discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach about unscheduled bridge openings for barges traveling between Peanut Island and the Bonefish Cove habitat restoration project in the Intracoastal Waterway south of the Lake Worth Bridge.
In Moore’s letter to Coast Guard Cmdr. Randall Overton, she asked that the agency change the schedule for the bridges to Palm Beach to only open once an hour from 2:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
That is the current schedule when the Coast Guard’s security zone for President-elect Donald Trump is in effect. Moore asked that it become part of the bridge opening schedule even when Trump is not in Palm Beach. That schedule currently allows for one opening an hour from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“Ideally the Town would prefer no bridge openings during this period, but would appreciate any consideration you can provide given the severity of the traffic,” Moore wrote.
Drivers heading west on Royal Poinciana Way wait for a barge to pass under the Flagler Memorial Bridge on Oct. 24. Palm Beach is working with county and federal officials to try to reduce the effect of the barges’ travel on the island’s traffic congestion.
The security zone was put in place by the Coast Guard in August, and goes into effect in the waters around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club when the president-elect is home.
The Coast Guard further changed the bridges’ opening schedules in November as part of the security zone, when the change was made to open the three bridges between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach just once per hour from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 2:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. In addition, the Southern Boulevard Bridge next to Mar-a-Lago may close with notice to allow uninterrupted travel for security reasons, the Coast Guard said at the time.
Moore has been among the town officials in a pair of recent meetings that have included Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker and County Mayor Maria Marino, whose district includes Midtown and the North End of Palm Beach. The area from roughly Worth Avenue south is within Commissioner Mack Bernard’s district.
West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, and county environmental employees also have attended the meetings, Town Manager Kirk Blouin said. County, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach officials soon will send a joint letter to the Coast Guard to make the same request as Moore’s Jan. 6 letter. They hope that by joining forces, they may persuade the Coast Guard to more seriously consider making the change, Blouin said.
Starting the hourly opening window earlier in the afternoon would better accommodate trips to and from the two schools on the island, Palm Beach Public Elementary School and Palm Beach Day Academy, Moore wrote.
A Vance Construction barge waits south of the Royal Park Bridge as another barge approaches from the north in the Intracoastal Waterway on Dec. 17.
The meetings — the first of which was Jan. 3, with the second on Wednesday — were called by officials concerned with the number of unscheduled bridge openings for barges associated with the Bonefish Cove project.
The Bonefish Cove project sits within Palm Beach’s municipal boundary on the east side of the Intracoastal south of the Lake Worth Bridge. It extends from roughly the Oasis Condominium in the north to the Emeraude Condominium in the south. Plans call for two mangrove islands with bird-nesting mounds and intertidal oyster reefs.
Bonefish Cove is a joint project primarily between Palm Beach County and the Army Corps, with the Army Corps as the lead agency. Other partners include the Florida Inland Navigation District, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Port of Palm Beach.
Between three and four barges per day carry material from what are called dredge material management areas near Peanut Island — which sits in the Intracoastal just northwest of Palm Beach’s North End — south to Bonefish Cove, an Army Corps spokesperson previously told the Daily News.
That could amount to six to eight daily unscheduled openings of the three bridges that connect Palm Beach to West Palm Beach. The barges are typically 100 to 150 feet long and pushed by tugboats, a county official said. The barges also move slowly — painfully slowly — for those sitting in vehicles on either side of the bridges wondering why traffic is at a standstill.
“These types of vessels are very difficult to stop safely on short notice and are less stable than other vessels to have waiting while being towed,” the Army Corps spokesperson said. “The barges are heavy and are loaded with material and equipment that further complicates the safe displacement in water.”
The Army Corps has $10 million dedicated to Bonefish Cove, and the county has budgeted $6.4 million for construction of the project, Baker told county commissioners following Friday’s phone call.
During that call, Baker said she told Frankel that the county is open to working on solutions that might help to address Palm Beach’s concerns about traffic. There are changes that can be made that will help the timing of barge traffic and its effects on traffic, she wrote. But, Baker added, any additional costs to make those changes would be paid by the county.
“It should be noted that the federal contribution to the project is capped at $10M (million), so any additional costs resulting from deviations to the construction contract will be 100% on the county,” Baker wrote. “We remain committed to this important project but recognize the need to work with those impacted during this construction phase.”
The county will continue to work with the Army Corps, town and West Palm Beach to find solutions, Baker said.
“At the request of our local government officials — Palm Beach County, the town of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach — I am working closely with them to engage the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard and law enforcement to explore solutions to alleviate the maddening traffic congestion,” Frankel said in a statement to the Daily News.
Frankel first met with the Army Corps and the Coast Guard on Dec. 13 to discuss the unscheduled bridge openings, an Army Corps spokesperson said. “During the meeting, our role was minimal,” the spokesperson said. “We simply clarified efforts to align barge movements with the schedule to minimize disruptions and outlined our project timeline, noting that contract completion is expected in summer 2025.”
Army Corps Col. Brandon Bowman, commander for the agency’s Jacksonville District, talked with Frankel on Jan. 7 about another issue and the lagoon was mentioned, the spokesperson said. Following that call, Bowman has asked for more information and is looking at possible steps that could help both Palm Beach and the contractor while continuing the project, the Army Corps spokesperson said.
The Town Council in December granted approval for work on Bonefish Cove to happen on Sundays, which should reduce the number of barge trips during the week, officials said. That Sunday work begins today, said Renee Piccitto, senior project manager for Ahtna Marine and Construction Company, the Army Corps’ contractor overseeing Bonefish Cove.
“We take every correspondence, every question and concern seriously,” Piccitto said.
When the Coast Guard posted its updated bridge opening schedule, AMCC’s subcontractor, Vance Construction, tried to time its barges to when the bridges were scheduled to open, she said. Unscheduled openings will happen, she said: “Sometimes other traffic gets in the way,” Piccitto said. “You have to deal with the tides. There’s other factors at play.”
While some officials have suggested that construction at Bonefish Cove might be able to happen at night to reduce the number of barge trips during peak hours on weekdays, Piccitto said that is not an option because it would not be safe, either for the barges or for other marine traffic.
“Operating barges at night — it’s just not something we want to get in the realm of doing,” she said.
Her team is also trying to schedule barges to begin operating as early in the morning as possible, to avoid morning rush hour, she said.
The number of barge trips has been lower in recent weeks because one barge has not been able to operate, and construction was stopped for several days for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Piccitto said.
“We will continue to do our best to only operate or to pass through the bridges during scheduled openings and really try to get ahead of the curve before rush hour,” she said.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach seeks fewer bridge openings to reduce severe traffic