Opinion: When Will It Be Safe to Cross South Bayshore Drive?

A “perfect storm” is heading towards South Bayshore Drive In Coconut Grove. But unlike the 1997 best-selling book that chronicled the rare confluence of meteorological events, precipitating one of the most memorable, if not deadly, storms of the last century, this one may culminate in a less sensational tragedy: pedestrian fatalities.

So far, no one has been killed crossing South Bayshore Drive. And yet all the elements — the Grove’s own perfect traffic storm — are converging in full view: speeding motor vehicles, increasing traffic congestion, and poor roadway design. Add the increasing pedestrian volume and movement along South Bayshore Drive resulting from an explosion of hotel and condominium towers, plus greatly expanded, traffic-generating entertainment venues in the Dinner Key marina, and you have a tragedy waiting to happen. 

Bill Finan, who lives along the South Bayshore corridor, is well aware of the danger. He has studied numerous planning documents developed in the past several decades that promised to set Coconut Grove on a safer, more pedestrian-friendly course. None of them has been fully implemented.

Finan is a member of the safety committee of a newly formed civic group — a loose federation of the condos along South Bayshore – called the South Bayshore Drive Condo Alliance. The Alliance is still relatively new on the civic scene in Coconut Grove. Finan and others are determined to be heard, and pedestrian safety is at the top of their list.

Most within the group are retired or semi-retired from successful careers and are relatively new to the world of community activism, but they have plenty of time to research and organize. They have met regularly in person and remotely with city and county elected officials, planners, and traffic engineers. They have exchanged emails, taken exhaustive notes, and documented problems with photos and videos. They say they won’t take “no” for an answer.

If the last few months are any indication, they’ll have to settle for a lot of “maybe.”

South Bayshore Drive is a county roadway, under full control of the county’s Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW). As much as possible, the city and county cooperate on safety improvements to local roadways. They have known about the problems on South Bayshore for many years.

But addressing roadway concerns in Miami-Dade – pedestrian safety, traffic flow, drainage, and other improvements —  is often a Sisyphean task. Nearly 20 years ago, the county authorized the City of Miami to fix the problems in the 1.5-mile segment of South Bayshore Drive between Darwin Street and north to Mercy Way. The problems include regular flooding near Kennedy Park and poor design that creates backups in rush hour. But despite two community planning workshops, and amidst high staff turnover, the city’s project never got off the ground. Several years ago the county’s DTPW took the project back. If all goes as planned, county officials say, work may begin soon. Let’s hope they’re right.

Once the work gets started, restricting traffic along stretches of South Bayshore Drive, motorists will be rerouted to the already overcrowded US 1 or to the quiet side streets in between that were never designed for large amounts of through traffic. Local residents will be furious.

South Bayshore Drive is not one street but many, cobbled together over many decades Between U.S. 1 and Mercy Way, the street, here named South Miami Avenue, has four lanes and looks and feels like a highway. Just after the entrance to Mercy Hospital, it narrows to two lanes that continue until it reaches Darwin Street, near the Fresh Market. Then it opens up to four lanes again. The four-lane segments accommodate – even facilitate – much higher speeds. The slowness of the middle segment feeds motorists’ frustration. After Aviation Avenue they rev up like horses out the gate at the Kentucky Derby.

All of this might not be problematic except for the scale of development on South Bayshore between Aviation Avenue and MacFarlane Road. Bill Finan created a spreadsheet that tracks housing units and residents over five decades. At the beginning of Finan’s timeline, there were 142 units and 280 residents. By 2024, the numbers had increased to 1,337 units and 3,091 residents. Included in the 2024 numbers are the 118 units in the Mr. C towers. Not included are the 70 units in the upcoming Four Seasons Coconut Grove at 27^th Avenue and South Bayshore on the site of the former Kaufman Rossin building, now being demolished.

The demolition of the Kaufman Rossin building is itself a point of controversy. For most of 2024, the sidewalks adjacent to the building on both 27^th Avenue and South Bayshore Drive have been closed. Pedestrians near the site are forced to walk in the street alongside speeding cars or cross to the other side, a serious inconvenience on this very wide street.

City of Miami officials say the sidewalk closure is needed in light of an accident that happened several months ago elsewhere in the city — a demolition site on Brickell Avenue where a large concrete slab fell onto the street, nearly crushing a passing car. The City ruled that the Brickell project had to be halted during the day and the street closed at night for the demolition to proceed. Similarly, no open sidewalks will be allowed anywhere near the Kaufman Rossin demolition site.

“For over a year, I’ve emailed and spoken to [City of Miami commission] District 2 and [Miami-Dade County commission] District 7 numerous times to make clear the current pedestrian crossing situation in Coconut Grove is dangerous,” says Henrietta Schwarz, the chair of the South Bayshore Drive Condo Alliance safety committee. “To date, neither has come up with viable solutions. Cars continue to speed unabated, almost as though the County is purposefully making South Bayshore into a feeder road connecting South Miami to Downtown. Drunken drivers are driving into light poles and electrical boxes. Pedestrians are still taking their lives into their own hands just by crossing the street.”

Flashing yellow lights, one solution under consideration, do not deter motorists, Schwarz believes. Her committee wants “flashing red lights” or more stoplights. The stoplight on MacFarlane Road near Peacock Park is an example of a device that works, Schwarz says. “People are able to cross the street safely. More things like that need to get done before someone is seriously injured or dies.”

This assertion underscores the most important obstacle to pedestrian safety on South Bayshore Drive. The street will be safer when and if traffic goes at a slower and steadier pace, and when traffic stops for pedestrians. But slower and steadier traffic, made even slower by more frequent stops, is bound to create more congestion.

Bill Finan believes the most effective solution to the problems of South Bayshore Drive is narrowing of the roadway, what is commonly known as a “road diet.” If a road diet were applied to the length of the corridor, the entire roadway between U.S. 1 and MacFarlane Road would consist of two lanes.

Finan points out that such a change is consistent with the Florida Department of Transportation’s recent emphasis on “Complete Streets” — streets that serve the needs of not just motorists but also pedestrians, bicyclists and other users. Finan says following Complete Streets principles by slowing the traffic on South Bayshore and making it steadier, without the current bursts of speeding, would add no more than a few seconds to the motor vehicle trip from MacFarlane Road to Aviation Way.

The idea of slowing traffic in car-obsessed Miami is complete heresy, but the need for it is the final major element of Miami’s perfect traffic storm. Says Bill Finan, “Miami’s mantra is, ‘Keep traffic moving fast, no matter what the cost.’ That idea is deeply rooted in twentieth-century thinking. Will Miami ever catch up with the twenty-first century? It will take leaders with vision to make that happen. It’s our responsibility to educate our leaders to make pedestrian safety a priority.”

Pedestrian Safety Wish List?

During a recent remote meeting with the Coconut Grove Spotlight, Miami-Dade District 7 Commissioner Raquel Regalado and her staff offered the following recommendations for pedestrian safety on South Bayshore Drive between MacFarlane Road and Darwin Street. All items require approval from both the City of Miami and the Miami-Dade County  Department of Transportation and Public Works.

• Improved pedestrian accessibility features such as push buttons to allow pedestrians more time to cross.
• Consideration of on-ground pedestrian signage about three feet high.
• Consideration of possible use of flashing red lights—currently not allowed under State of Florida FDOT rules.
• Traffic and speed mitigation studies for SBD from the Woman’s Club to 27^th Avenue, as well as SBD from SW 27^th Avenue to Aviation Avenue. The results of those traffic studies will help to determine whether and what treatments are feasible for traffic and speed mitigation.
• Traffic study for a traffic light for SBD and Mary Street.
• Rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at the Woman’s Club location and Mary Street.
• Repaint crosswalks at South Bayshore Drive (SBD) and connector streets:

• Woman’s Club—2985 SBD
• SBD and Mary Street
• SBD and SW 27th Avenue
• SBD and Pan American Drive (with stop/yield signage)
• SBD and Charthouse Drive
• SW 27th Avenue and Tigertail Avenue/Oak Circle
• SBD and Darwin Street adjacent to Fresh Market
• SBD and Aviation Avenue

Center Grove resident Hank Sanchez-Resnik is the founder of Bike Coconut Grove and co-founder of Friends of the Commodore Trail. He is also a member of the Miami-Dade County Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee.