Joint Effort Completes Palm Bay Road/Babcock Street Signal Rehab Job Ahead of Schedule

BREVARD COUNTY, FL. -- Brevard County Public Works Traffic Operations partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Five Traffic Operations to complete an urgent $76K signal rehabilitation at one of the county’s busiest and largest intersections—Palm Bay Road and Babcock Street (SR 507)—and completed the work in half the anticipated time. Initially planned from Friday, July 11, from 8 p.m. through 6 a.m. Monday, July 14, the project was completed early Sunday morning, (July 13). 

Months-long planning efforts resulted in the seamless collaboration and public outreach as well as flawless execution by contracted partners, Acme Barricades, for temporary traffic control services and Traffic Control Devices, Inc, for the signal work.  FDOT provided the maintenance of traffic engineering design, temporary traffic control implementation, and construction engineering inspection support as well as coordinated with local municipalities for their support to the project.  All work was inspected by Brevard County Public Works Traffic Operations before putting the intersection back into service.  

“This project is a great example of what can be accomplished when agencies and contractors work together toward a shared goal," said Corrina Gumm, P.E., Brevard County Public Works Traffic Operations Manager. "Everyone understood the urgency, stayed focused, and made safety the top priority. I’m proud of the collaboration and the outcome.”

The project included establishing road detours to divert some of the average 59,000 vehicles, 96 pedestrians, and 53 bicyclists that go through this intersection daily, and set up an impressive makeshift traffic circle with bright orange construction cones to largely keep the intersection open throughout the rehabilitation project, which replaced multiple span wires and signal heads.  

While under construction, the intersection accommodated nearly 53K vehicles, 82 pedestrians, and 44 vehicles without incident and managed to keep traffic flowing fairly smoothly throughout the project.  This project was initiated in response to prior hurricane-related damage that had left the traffic signal vulnerable to future storm events. While temporary repairs had previously kept the intersection operational, a full replacement was essential to ensure long-term reliability and public safety. In total, six bucket trucks worked in tandem in addition to multiple support vehicles to perform this timely rehabilitation project.

Kevin Marquez, P.E. with FDOT District 5, praised the effort: “It was very impressive to watch your team tackle this challenge so efficiently,” he said.

Traffic Control Devices Vice President George Hamil echoed the sentiment: "Our team came together to make this happen -- safely, quickly and with the public in mind."

View the time-lapse video of the project.