Crews will begin work Tuesday to convert the intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street into a right-turn-only crossing, a safety change city officials say is intended to reduce crashes at one of Fort Walton Beach’s most dangerous intersections.
- The turn lane and inside northbound lane of Beal Parkway will be closed near First Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, and Wednesday, June 17, while a contractor installs traffic separators and re-stripes lane markings. The City of Fort Walton Beach is carrying out the work with permission from the Florida Department of Transportation.
Once the project is complete, drivers on First Street will only be able to turn right onto Beal Parkway. Motorists will no longer be able to drive through the intersection and continue on First Street. Drivers on Beal Parkway will no longer be able to turn left onto First Street. Flexible barrier posts will prevent vehicles from crossing oncoming traffic.
The City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-11 in August 2025, authorizing Mayor Nic Allegretto to convey the city’s support for the FDOT improvements and directing the city manager to take the steps needed to implement them. Councilwoman Gloria Deberry made the motion and Councilman Bryce Jeter seconded it, calling the project a “step in the positive direction.”
- At the time, Police Chief Robert Bage told the council the city would be responsible for construction costs estimated at about $12,000, drawn from the city’s half-cent sales tax balance.
The change is based on a traffic study that documented 35 vehicle crashes at the intersection between 2017 and 2022. Twenty-eight of those crashes were right-angle, or T-bone, collisions, and nine resulted in injuries that required at least one person to be transported to a medical facility.
The 2022 FDOT study also found that traffic backing up from U.S. Highway 98 through the First Street intersection creates sight distance issues at the crossing.
“The intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street is one of the highest crash locations in the City of Fort Walton Beach,” Bage said. “This change came out of a joint effort between the City and FDOT. A 2022 traffic study recommended adding a six-phase signal at this intersection, but there is no funding for that project currently. As an intermediate step to improve safety, turning movements will be limited to right turns only. This should improve traffic safety in the area.”
Bage said the number of crashes at the intersection appears to be climbing as drivers use the route as an alternative to U.S. Highway 98. Over the past 12 months, 26 crashes have been reported at the intersection.
