WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (March 5, 2020) – Virgin Trains, formerly Brightline, has shared with the City of West Palm Beach that it will conduct safety improvement work on railroad crossings in the City which will require full road and sidewalk closures for up to one week at a time. The City is sharing this information to help mitigate the impact to our residents. According to Virgin Trains, no two neighboring crossings will be closed at the same time, and detours will be in place to direct traffic and pedestrians. The impacted West Palm Beach crossings are:

Railroad Crossing at 49th St.

Full road and sidewalk closure, from 6 a.m., Monday morning, March 9 through 5 p.m., Friday evening, March 13 for rail work. Crossing will be fully closed until completion of work. Through traffic on 49^th St. will be detoured between Greenwood Ave. and Pinewood Ave.

Detour Information:

• Eastbound 49^th St. traffic will be directed to travel south on Greenwood Ave to 45^th St., travel east on 45^th St. to Pinewood Ave. and travel north on Pinewood Ave. to access 49^th St.
• Westbound 49^th St. traffic will be directed to travel south on Pinewood Ave. to 45^th St., travel west on 45^th St. to Greenwood Ave. and travel north on Greenwood Ave. to access 49^th St.

Railroad Crossing at 25th St.

Full road and sidewalk closure, from 6 a.m., Thursday morning, March 12 to 5 p.m., Monday evening, March 16 for rail work. Crossing will be fully closed until completion of work. Through traffic on 25^th St. will be detoured between Rosemary Ave. and Pinewood Ave.

Detour Information:

• Eastbound 25^th St. traffic will be directed to travel south on Rosemary Ave. to 23^rd St., travel east on 23^rd St. to Pinewood Ave. and travel north on Pinewood Ave. to access 25^th St.
• Westbound 25^th St. traffic will be directed to travel south on Pinewood Ave. to 23^rd St., travel west on 23^rd St. to Rosemary Ave. and travel north on Rosemary Ave. to access 25^th St.

According to Virgin Trains, safety enhancements at grade crossings will include newer gate mechanisms, auxiliary flasher lights, improved roadway signage, signals, pavement markings, vehicle presence detection and Positive Train Control (PTC) a GPS system that works with radar and track sensors to allow a train to be controlled remotely if necessary. In addition to grade construction work, flagging operations will continue in the corridor, resulting in brief closures of one to two minutes at a time. Motorists should drive with extra caution through work zones and adhere to posted detour signs and speed limits.