The intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street is now a right-turn-only crossing after a crew from ACME Barricades began installing traffic separators Wednesday, completing a safety change originally scheduled to start last week before weather delays pushed the work back.

• The project is being carried out by the City of Fort Walton Beach, with permission from the Florida Department of Transportation, to change traffic flow and reduce crashes at the intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street.

Under the new configuration, drivers on First Street, both eastbound and westbound, can only turn right onto Beal Parkway. Drivers on Beal Parkway, both northbound and southbound, can no longer turn left onto First Street. A series of flexible barrier posts at the intersection prevents vehicles from crossing oncoming traffic.

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 intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street is one of the highest crash locations in the City of Fort Walton Beach,” Fort Walton Beach Police Chief Robert 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 increasing as drivers use it as an alternative to U.S. Highway 98. Over the past 12 months, 26 crashes have been reported at the intersection.