Palm Beach County equips all County-owned drawbridges with AI cameras.

Joshua CaruzzoFebruary 21, 2023

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida. Contact 5 learned Tuesday that Palm Beach County is spending $2 million to equip all eight of its drawbridges with a new AI camera system designed to help bridge tenders.
The Katona Bridge, which crosses the Jupiter Coastal Waterway, is set to be the first county-owned and operated mobile bridge in Palm Beach County to be equipped with an AI camera system.

According to Palm Beach County, once installed and operational, it will continuously monitor activity above and below all eight County-owned bridges and sound an audible warning if anyone or anything is detected.

County Engineer David Ricks told Contact 5 the technology is intended to provide an additional tool on bridges to monitor pedestrians, vehicles, boats and people under waterway bridges.

“This technology will help bridge contractors become better operators,” Rix said. “Safety is our #1 priority.”

The county’s decision to install the technology came after Contact 5 also learned of the state’s $14 million. plan to install lidar and thermal imaging camera on all of its 80+ drawbridges across the state through 2024.

The Florida Department of Transportation told Contact 5 that at least four of its bridges across the state, including the Fifth Street Bridge over the Miami River, are now equipped with the technology.

The state bridges, located in southeast Florida, are in the early stages of design, according to state transportation officials.

According to WPTV, a little over a year ago Carol Wright died when a bridge tender, hired by a contractor, opened the Royal Park State Bridge in West Palm Beach while a 79-year-old woman cycled across it.

Since Wright’s tragic death, Contact 5 has also uncovered other frightening incidents on bridges in Palm Beach County.

“As the public is well aware, we had several incidents on our bridges last year and because of this, we, the County, reviewed all of our existing systems and our procedures and realized that we needed to upgrade the technology,” Rix. said. “The main thing is to provide a very safe environment for all of our citizens and use available technology to provide the best safe environment we have.”

Ricks told Contact 5 that the new technology will be integrated with the mechanical operations of each bridge. He said the county was in talks with the supplier, but could not provide an exact timeline for installation and operation.

Bridges owned and operated by Palm Beach County:

Location and name of the drawbridge