Blouin: Planning being done to ensure emergency medical calls flow smoothly
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"We have multiple plans to combat any bridge closure in this town," Public Safety Director Kirk Blouin said at Tuesday's meeting of the Town Council's Public Safety Committee.
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Blouin said that could be increased to an average of once per day.
There are three Trauma Hawk landing zones in town, at the Par 3 Golf Course,
Palm Beach Recreation Center and
Palm Beach Country Club.
Blouin said The Breakers has agreed to designate a fourth landing site on its golf course, if needed.
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County and DOT preparations also are under way,
Blouin said.
"They have an intelligent system where they manually control traffic signals from Okeechobee Boulevard all the way out to I-95,"
he said.
One plan being considered is to restripe the Royal Park Bridge so there are three westbound lanes and two eastbound lanes for as long as the Flagler would be closed.
Another idea is to temporarily close the eastbound lanes on Royal Palm Way long enough for an emergency response vehicle to get across the bridge.
A test run Tuesday afternoon was successful,
Blouin said.
"It took a little over five minutes to get the street closed, with no real interruptions,"
he said.
The town has about 36 traffic cameras, and is considering adding more,
he said.
The town coordinates fire response assistance with West Palm Beach.
Town officials are examining is whether the bridge closure might slow the city's ability to get fire units into town.
As a result, the town's plans to equip fire and police vehicles with Fire Interruption Technology (FIT) devices,
Blouin said.