If you planned to drive through the South End this weekend, think again.
The U.S. Secret Service has mandated new traffic patterns around Mar-a-Lago while President Donald Trump is in town this weekend. Air Force One touched down Friday afternoon at Palm Beach International Airport and Trump was whisked away by a motorcade to his club.
Unlike previous visits from then-President-elect Trump, security appears much tighter, especially when it comes to traffic.
The Secret Service-mandated traffic pattern changes were announced in a town alert email at 2 p.m. Friday and will extend until Monday.
All traffic, including pedestrian travel, will be prohibited on South Ocean Boulevard from its intersection with South County Road to the roundabout at Southern Boulevard. Travel also is restricted east to the ocean.
Residents in that area will be allowed to travel if they have proper identification, the alert said.
People heading east on Southern Boulevard will only be allowed to exit right at the roundabout to South Ocean Boulevard. Northbound travelers on South Ocean Boulevard will exit onto westbound Southern Boulevard.
Anyone traveling south on South County Road or South Ocean Boulevard will be redirected north at the intersection of those roads.
Traffic was slow Friday afternoon near Mar-a-Lago as crews installed concrete barricades around the club. Drivers should expect more delays throughout Trump's stay. Originally, protesters planned to march Saturday onto Palm Beach, but on Thursday, organizers changed the route so the march would stay in West Palm Beach.
> 2,000 expected for modified Trump protest march in West Palm
Public Safety Director Kirk Blouin said Friday evening that he learned of the mandated road closures late Thursday.
“None of the situation was ideal,” Blouin said. “But I’d have to speculate that it was a result of all the activity that was scheduled to happen in the area.”
The changes — which essentially render the Southern Boulevard Bridge all but useless — went into effect at 2 p.m. Friday, and the repercussions could be felt immediately.
Blouin said he received a few complaints from residents, though not as many as he’d expect.
“The west side of the middle bridge is essentially a parking lot,” Blouin said. “There’s just essentially no place to put them, or else we would.”
Restaurants in Midtown including BrickTop’s and Cafe L’Europe reported that cars were stuck in traffic outside their businesses. A woman who answered the phone at Cafe L’Europe said guests were calling ahead to ask if it would be “worth it” to come there.
Police spokesman Philip Salm said he got caught in traffic when at 4 p.m. he left the Palm Beach Police Department, which is on South County Road in Midtown.
“By the time I hit The Breakers, it was dead-stopped traffic,” Salm said in a phone interview at 5 p.m. He was still in traffic on the island.
“If you can avoid the island, don’t come anywhere near it,” he said.
Staff writer Joseph Setinsek contributed.
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