It isn’t yet clear why, but a traffic-light-bearing mast stretching over State Road 100 at Flagler Avenue in Flagler Beach, just before the bridge, bent and struck the road this morning around 10:30, causing some havoc with traffic.
“I know it didn’t hit anything, which is the good thing, so I don’t know if it came down slowly or not,” Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney said. A close-up of the mast arm’s junction with the vertical pole suggests the metal degraded and split as if along a seam.
“It just looks like the arm bent” on the northwest corner of 100 and Flagler Avenue, the chief said. “Our traffic signals are worked on by the City of Palm Coast, so they’ve been notified and they’re on scene, as if FDOT,” the Florida Department of Transportation. Since 100 is a state road, it’s under the state’s jurisdiction in some regards. Palm Coast oversees technical aspects of all traffic lighting across the county, including in Bunnell, Flagler Beach and unincorporated parts of the county.
“The city maintains the traffic cabinets, but we do not maintain the mast arms or poles,” Brittany Kershaw, Palm Coast’s communications director, said. “Those are the property of FDOT. We are out there disconnecting the power and on standby, but FDOT will install a temporary replacement until final repairs can be made.”
Flagler Beach police officers have been at the scene redirecting traffic and hoping for a quick resolution, with heat being a factor.
Eastbound traffic off the bridge and into the city is not affected. For anyone heading west on 100 and looking to cross the bridge, Doughney said drivers should take South Daytona Avenue to North Flagler Avenue and make a left onto 100, toward the bridge. He had not gotten word from FDOT as to when the mast would be removed or a temporary replacement installed.
“It should be someone’s responsibility to inspect these mast arms and condemn any bad ones,” Flagler Beach Commissioner Rick Belhumeur, who’d been to the scene, said. “Luckily no one got hurt or killed.”
