Downtown West Palm Beach is bracing for major traffic disruptions during Friday evening rush hour with President Donald Trump scheduled to speak at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
Law enforcement officials were mum on details of when and how traffic will be curtailed as Trump wends his way into the city center May 1 for a scheduled speech to the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.
But the U.S. Secret Service is advising people traveling through downtown to expect significant delays and warned that security measures could be heavier that usual less than a week after an armed gunman tried to storm a Washington D.C. event that Trump was attending.
“The public should expect enhanced security and heavier-than-usual traffic impacts in that area,” Secret Service spokesman Matthew Fagiana said. “It could be two to three hours prior to the event.”
The event runs from 6:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. but road closures could begin well before then. Trump is expected to arrive at Palm Beach International Airport earlier in the day.
It’s not clear whether he will travel directly to the Kravis Center from the airport, but if he does it could create temporary road closures between the airport and downtown.
His remarks to the Forum Club, a nonpartisan political and public affairs organization, come less than a week after his planned remarks in a similar setting back in Washington were disrupted by what federal prosecutors allege was an assassination attempt.
That is likely to have an impact on the measures taken. Fagiana said security measures “are not static” and are “designed to evolve to the conditions that we have.”
“We are in a heightened, dynamic period right now with security, so the public should expect to see enhanced security practices,” he said.
Officials with the city police department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment and referred questions to the Secret Service.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Major traffic delays expected as Trump speaks in downtown West Palm
Reporting by Andrew Marra, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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