South Ocean Boulevard will be closed to through-traffic as of 5 a.m. on Saturday, July 20, from the intersection of South Ocean Boulevard and South County Road southward to the traffic circle where South Ocean Boulevard and Southern Boulevard connect, the Town of Palm Beach announced in an email alert Friday updating residents on the extent of the security action being taken.
The announcement represents a significant change from the town’s original email alert on Thursday evening, when it stated that the closure would take effect at 4 p.m. Saturday on South Ocean Boulevard between Woodbridge Road, which is immediately north of Mar-a-Lago, and the traffic circle where South Ocean Boulevard and Southern Boulevard meet.
The closure to through-traffic on South Ocean Boulevard near former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is being implemented for security purposes and will be effective 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the November 5 general election “at a minimum,” according to the town.
Residents and service providers in the closure area will be granted access with proper identification, the town said.
“The U.S. Secret Service has made this decision, neither Town officials nor the Town Council,” the town said Friday. “The Town is working closely with the U.S. Secret Service to minimize the impacts of this road closure. The Town plans to pursue legal options to ensure that the road remains open in the absence of the protected person(s) in residence.”
The closure is being implemented “due to enhanced security measures involving Mar-a-Lago and U.S. Secret Service-protected persons,” the town said.
South Ocean Boulevard is the only road that directly links Palm Beach’s North End and Midtown with the southern portion of the town.
“The Palm Beach Police Department will be incorporating and planning for increased traffic mitigation efforts due to this closure,” the town said. “We will update the community with further details on this closure as they become available.”
Thursday’s original announcement came just hours before Trump, the Republican nominee for president in the November 5 election, was scheduled to speak on the final night of his party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wis.
Trump was shot and wounded on Saturday while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Penn. One person died and two others were also injured in the shooting. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by Secret Service.
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