Beach capacity website shows Pass-A-Grille at capacity within first hour

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office launched its new Beach Capacity Dashboard website Friday afternoon to show beachgoers, in real-time, every bridge, parking lot, and beach access point -- and whether those spots are open, nearing capacity, or overcrowded and closed. 

Green means open. Yellow means it's getting busy. Red means full.

The information is being fed in from about 300 law enforcement officials on the ground. 

“We're hoping this will help streamline and get the people in the right places so we don’t have too much density and we can’t handle the population on the beach,” said Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. “We want them to enjoy the beaches...but they have to be appropriately distanced and there will be capacity issues and we have to make sure it doesn’t get too dense.”

Within an hour of launch, Pass-a-Grille beach turned red, signaling capacity had been reached during the high tide.

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Screenshot of the Beach Capacity Dashboard at 5 p.m. Friday, May 8, 2020

Indian Rocks Beach was green Friday afternoon as many kicked off their first beach weekend in about six weeks, having been off-limits because of the coronavirus pandemic. Signs just outside the sand reminded folks there are still rules to follow.  

It’s likely to be a busy Mother’s Day beach weekend and now you can see just how busy before you even leave the house.

The dashboard will be updated through Sunday night.

“The weekend is going to be the test. I can’t stress that enough, it’s not business as usual,” Sheriff Gualtieri said.

LINK: The dashboard is available at www.pcsoweb.com/beachcapacity.