By Jennifer Sorentrue – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Photo: BRIANNA SOUKUP
Tequesta resident Ariana Collado was leaving the Harbourside Place shopping and entertainment complex on Aug. 22 when the car she was driving collided with an oncoming vehicle.
The 22-year-old, who works in the emergency room at Jupiter Medical Center, was knocked unconscious. Her pelvis and collarbone were fractured. She had injuries to her ribs and a large gash on her face near her eye. The trauma was so severe, Collado was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where she spent 13 days recovering.
The Florida East Coast Railway bridge over the Loxahatchee River. (The Palm Beach Post)
Tequesta fire-rescue personnel were among several crews called to help with the accident, which occurred just after 10 p.m. at U.S. 1 and Breakwater Court in Jupiter.
But Tequesta’s crew was not able to reach the scene that night. Village officials say a malfunction with the 90-year-old Loxahatchee River Bridge caused a southbound freight train to stop on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, blocking the only three railroad crossings leading directly from the village’s fire station to the accident scene on U.S. 1.
“It is a little nerve-racking,” Collado said after learning that the train prevented Tequesta personnel from responding.
The incident marked the second time in two months Tequesta officials say problems with the railroad bridge have interfered with the village’s emergency crews.
The aging bridge has been a sore spot for opponents of the All Aboard Florida project, which is expected to add 32 trains a day on the FEC tracks. The railway is an affiliate of All Aboard Florida’s parent company, Florida East Coast Industries.
Capt. Albert Borroto, Palm Beach County’s Fire Rescue spokesman, said the stopped train did not impede the care given to Collado or her passenger, Rebecca Poe, 25, of Jupiter. When Tequesta’s crew couldn’t respond, a county team was called out, he added.
“Our operations during the incident were not affected by Tequesta rescue not being available, we dispatched the next available rescue vehicle,” Borroto said. “All injured received proper care and treatment at all times.”
The incident has raised alarm bells for leaders in the county’s north end, who say the outcome could have been far different if the crash had been in the village.
“We can’t continue to have people on one side of the tracks and emergencies on the other,” said state Rep. MaryLynn Magar, R-Hobe Sound, whose district includes parts of northern Palm Beach County. “It is not like it has happened once and it has been corrected. This has happened multiple times.”
In a three-page letter sent last month to Florida East Coast Railway Senior Vice President Robert Ledoux, Tequesta Mayor Abby Brennan urged the company to change its procedures, saying the bridge and its “rapidly deteriorating operating mechanism” must be immediately addressed.
In March, FEC vowed to make changes after a similar incident in which a train blocked all three crossings for more than 90 minutes. A car crash occurred as the train blocked all three rail crossings. One person was injured. The victim was taken to Jupiter Medical Center — but a trip that should have lasted five minutes took 47 minutes because of the train.
At the time, FEC said the changes would require all southbound trains to stop before Riverside Drive if they do not receive a clear signal that the bridge is down, leaving the southernmost crossing in the village open to traffic. FEC said it would notify Tequesta officials of any blocked crossings within the village.
But Brennan said that didn’t happen.
“This is an alarm that is sounding,” Brennan said. “Risking people’s lives. Risking being able to get someone to the hospital. It is a very serious problem, and it has to be fixed.”
Brennan said Thursday Ledoux has not responded to her Aug. 31 letter.
Ledoux could not be reached for comment Friday. Following the Aug. 22 incident, Ledoux told The Palm Beach Post that the engineer did not get a clear signal that the bridge was down and was forced to stop the train and walk to the bridge to make sure it was in the closed position. Ledoux said the engineer was following an old procedure that has since been updated.
Ledoux has pointed to Tequesta’s unusual geography, saying it sets the village apart from other jurisdictions that the company’s tracks run through.
“There are three crossings into Tequesta,” Ledoux said this month. “Any one of our trains can block all three of them without much difficulty because of their geography.”
With Jonathan Dickinson State Park to the north, the Intracoastal Waterway to the east, and the fork of the Loxahatchee River cutting through the middle, Tequesta is particularly vulnerable if a southbound train is held up at the railroad bridge.
Tequesta’s fire-rescue and police services are on the west side of the tracks. The closest hospital, Jupiter Medical Center, is only a few minutes away unless the three east-west crossings are blocked. There is only one road out of the village on the far west side of the village, and officials say that exit is overcome by traffic when the east roads are blocked by a train.
“The answer to the problem is to stop this situation with the train,” Brennan said. “That bridge has to be completely renovated.”
All Aboard Florida, an express-passenger rail line between Miami and Orlando that will run on the FEC tracks, has committed to replacing or repairing the mechanical and electrical systems for the movable bridges over the Loxahatchee River, the St. Lucie River and the New River in Broward County, according to an environmental study of the rail project released this month by the Federal Railroad Administration.
But Brennan said the community can’t wait for those upgrades.
Tequesta Fire Rescue Capt. Dan Tilles was on duty the night of Collado’s crash. He was listening over the radio as the crew drove to all three of the roads leading to U.S. 1 before finally telling dispatch that they couldn’t cross the tracks.
“Several times they were asked for their ETA, and the lieutenant on the truck had to tell them they were delayed,” Tilles said. “Finally after the third one, they said, ‘we are unable to respond.’ That is the worst feeling in the world. We had to tell them we can’t come.”
Tequesta Fire Rescue Capt. Dan Tilles sent this memo Chief James Weinand following the Aug. 22 crash:
Good morning Chief. We had an incident tonight, 8/22, with a train blocking all 3 intersections in Tequesta while trying to respond to a call. At 2204 tonight, R85 got toned out to respond to a mutual aid call in Jupiter in front of Habourside (U.S. 1 and Breakwater Court). It was a very serious automobile accident with extrication and initially 2 trauma alert patients. R85 called in a train delay when they got to Tequesta Drive railroad tracks. They then tried the intersection at Riverside which was also blocked. At this time, Command is calling them on the radio asking what their ETA was. Lt. Spurgeon explained to him it was unknown at this time do to the train not moving. Then they tried County Line Road which was also blocked by the train. Lt. Spurgeon notified dispatch that they could not respond due to the stopped train so they dispatched another rescue. We went over to dispatch to find out what was going on and she told us FEC stated that they had a mechanical problem with the bridge again and that they were working on it. The train finally started moving again at 2225 so it looks like all 3 intersections were blocked for at least 21 minutes.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/bridge-up-train-stopped-tequesta-crews-unable-to-r/nnnwh/