Royal Park Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Park Bridge is a bascule bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway, linking Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, Florida. It gained widespread attention in February 2022 when a woman fell to her death as its movable spans rose.
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Elisha Newton "Cap" Dimick, a former state senator and first mayor of Palm Beach, built the original Royal Park Bridge as a wooden structure in 1911. He named the bridge after a housing project he was developing in Palm Beach called the Royal Park Addition. The toll was 25 cents per vehicle and 5 cents per pedestrian. In 1919, Palm Beach County purchased the bridge for $40,000. Two years later, the county intended to replace the bridge with a concrete span. However, two days prior to its scheduled opening, the bridge collapsed.[1] A two-lane concrete replacement of the original bridge finally opened on August 11, 1924. This incarnation of the Royal Park Bridge suffered severe damage during the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane,[2] including to its west approach, draw span, wiring, and protective fenders, some of which were completely removed. However, temporary repairs, including the addition of wood and dirt fill-in, allowed vehicular and boat traffic to resume less than two weeks after the storm.[3]
The entirety of the original 1911 bridge was replaced in 1959.[4] During that time, the county added two lanes along the south side of the bridge and installed two drawbridges, at a cost of around $1.5 million. This bridge remained in use for about 40 years, until the discovery of wood borers led to its condemnation in 1998. In December of the following year, a temporary bridge opened, constructed at a cost of $13 million.[2]
The current Royal Park Bridge is a bascule bridge. It opened in 2005.[4]
On February 6, 2022, Carol Esterling Wright was killed while crossing the bridge with her bike when its spans suddenly started rising.[5] The bridge tender on duty, Artissua Paulk, was fired, arrested, and subsequently charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence.[6][7] Paulk's supervisor was also fired for allegedly encouraging Paulk to falsely report conducting a proper inspection of the bridge prior to opening the drawbridge.[8] Additionally, the victim's family filed a lawsuit against the bridge tender and Florida Drawbridges Inc. (FDI), resulting in a $8.2 million settlement in July 2022. FDI also agreed to conduct background checks and retrain all of its bridge tenders.[9] In January 2023, Paulk pled guilty to one count of manslaughter and received a sentence of two days in jail, 200 hours of community service, and 8 years probation.[8]
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