Less than a month after Escambia County reconfigured the Pensacola Beach toll booths to expedite beach traffic flow, the chief of the Gulf Breeze Police Department wants the changes undone.

The toll booths contributed to major backup through Gulf Breeze on Saturday and Sunday, said Chief Rick Hawthorne.

"We are hoping the county will realize that the bottleneck is happening at the toll plaza and they will change it," Hawthorne said. "We have our two biggest weekends of the year coming up with Blue Angels and July 4, and something has to be done to get people through there."

The county reconfigured the toll booths May 23. Previously, three toll booths were manned by workers who accepted the $1 cash toll. Under the new system, the two farthermost right lanes are designated for SunPass transponders and the left lanes are manned with workers who accept the cash toll.

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What happened this weekend?

On Saturday evening, a normally 20-minute trip from Pensacola to the beach took more than an hour and half and included a long wait in stop-and-go traffic on the Pensacola Bay Bridge.

Hawthorne said the backup was a danger to public safety.

"Vehicles can run out of gas on the bridge or overheat, and there is no way to push a car out of the way. If there was an emergency on the beach, most of those ambulances are coming from Pensacola," he said.

Hawthorne wants the toll booths changed back to a single SunPass lane or changed to toll-by-plate system.

Escambia County Commissioner Robert Bender's district includes Pensacola Beach. Bender said he understands Hawthorne's concern and plans to talk with the Gulf Breeze leader.

"We will be discussing all of the options. Public safety is important," he said.

Could the toll lanes be changed back?

The toll booths can be reconfigured on short notice, said David Forte, public works director for the county.

"We have discussed making all four lanes cash-only or cashless," he said. "There are also different ways we could configure (the toll lanes) on the weekdays and the weekends."

Drivers can also go through the booths and receive a toll-by-plate bill in the mail later, he said. The bill includes a monthly administrative fee of $2.50.

Another issue for commissioners to consider is the continued increase in traffic through the beach toll booths, something only major construction spending could resolve.

Forte said more than 42,000 additional vehicles crossed through the beach tolls from Jan. 1 through May 31 of this year than did during same period last year. And last year's numbers were up over 2017.

“Pensacola Beach is no longer just a local or regional destination, it is an international destination,” he said.

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Business owners say recent changes 'made things worse'

Julian MacQueen, founder of Innisfree Hotels and owner of five Pensacola Beach hotels, said Saturday was "a nightmare" for his employees because of the traffic backup.

"Saturday was horrible, it was terrible, it has been terrible since they made the toll booth changes," he said.

But MacQueen said the easiest solution is for everyone who enters the beach to use any of the toll lanes and simply receive a toll-by-plate bill in the mail later. The county needs to put up signs about this and educate local residents about the toll-by-plate option, he said.

"The SunPass direction is a good direction," he said.

Robert Rinke, owner of the Portofino Island Resorts, agreed. Fully automating the toll booths would alleviate one traffic choke point at the beach, he said.

"By abruptly adding another SunPass lane and taking away a cash lane, they split the baby and they made things worse," he said.

MacQueen, Rinke and other large hotel and condominium owners on the beach have long advocated for a traffic plan that calls for a series of roundabouts and pedestrian tunnels to better move traffic through the beach. Engineers' designs of the plans are scheduled for completion later this summer and series of public meetings will be held before County Commissioners debate whether to fund construction of the project.

Capt. Kristin Brown of the Pensacola Police Department said residents shouldn't expect solutions to traffic gridlock on busy beach days anytime soon. Brown said last weekend was "a perfect storm" for beach traffic.

"The weather was beautiful and we were having huge delays," said Brown, who predicted continued beach traffic issues throughout the summer. She urged local residents to be patient and to be prepared to sit in their cars.

"If you are planning on making a trip out there on the weekend, have a full tank of gas and bring water so you can hydrate while you are waiting," she said.

Melissa Nelson Gabriel can be reached at mnelsongab@pnj.com or 850-426-1431.