George Bush Boulevard Bridge Replacement

When Palm Beach County advanced the replacement of the bascule bridge on George Bush Boulevard over the Intracoastal Waterway, HBC led the traffic engineering analysis. Closing a bridge of this importance shifts traffic to the East Atlantic Avenue Bridge and affects the entire surrounding corridor, so the work focused on understanding those impacts before construction began.

We collected turning movement counts, origin-destination data, and travel time and speed information across fourteen intersections and both bridges. Using that data, HBC developed a 16 by 16 origin-destination matrix and reviewed existing signal timing, traffic patterns, and bridge operations to establish how the network was functioning under existing conditions.

From there, we built and calibrated Synchro and VISSIM microsimulation models to test detour and future scenarios. HBC forecasted traffic demand using the Southeast Regional Planning Model, compared no-build and build alternatives, and ran dynamic traffic assignment with VISUM for detour route analysis. The team also optimized signal timing, recommended coordination strategies, and completed a corridor safety review for US-1, SR A1A, George Bush Boulevard, and East Atlantic Avenue.