Miami-Dade County unveiled its latest design plans for roadway improvements along South Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove to widespread criticism.
The Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) revealed the latest iteration of its roadway improvement design plans for South Bayshore Drive on Monday night to widespread disappointment.
A crowd of about 100 people turned out for the county’s public briefing at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart on Main Highway and then took turns at the microphone to excoriate the county’s proposed plan, which is 90% complete.
The chief complaint: the county’s plan would require pedestrians to share a designated pathway with wheeled traffic (bikes mostly, but scooters too) instead of providing separate, protected bike lanes.
The county’s design includes other improvements – better drainage, more trees, improved lighting – but speaker after speaker hammered the county for not prioritizing public safety along the Commodore Trail pathway.
“I strongly believe we need separate bike lanes,” Mary Munroe Seabrook, co-founder of the Friends of the Commodore Trail, told project managers.
County officials defended their decision not to include a separate bike path, saying there wasn’t enough room on Bayshore Drive from Darwin Street to Mercy Way to provide separate lanes for cars, bikes and pedestrians. The crowd wasn’t persuaded.
“Really, everybody is just asking to be kept safe,” said Cindy Lerner, a candidate for the District 7 County Commission seat held by Raquel Regalado. “You are not listening.”
For her part, Regalado urged the crowd to recognize the design constraints imposed by the roadway’s narrow corridor, its lush canopy and historic character, and to work toward compromise to move the project forward.
The county hopes to begin construction in Fall 2027 with an expected completion date of Fall 2029.
“You’ve got time to get it right, so get it right,” said John Dolson, another speaker.
If Monday night’s public briefing was any indication, however, the project’s timetable seems optimistic.
The county moved to close the public meeting at 8 p.m. with an estimated 40 speakers still waiting to speak. When the crowd objected, Regalado promised to reconvene the briefing in the near future, to give everyone a chance to comment.
Editor’s Note: The Spotlight management team includes two members who are active in Friends of the Commodore Trail, an organization that supports separating pedestrian and bicycle traffic along South Bayshore Drive. Neither individual participated in this story, or influenced our coverage.
After attending the South Bayshore meeting, branded as the “County’s Public Input Meeting” on the South Bayshore Drive design plans, I am left speechless. Despite almost three years and three public input meetings, the County has blatantly disregarded all feedback and failed to communicate back to the community on a timely basis.
The plan presented this week ignored residents’ input and valuable insights. Overwhelming feedback from both in-person and Zoom attendees opposed the County’s proposal, primarily due to serious concerns about public safety.
How did we reach this point with 90% of the project planned and little, if any feedback to residents on why their recommendations are not being incorporated?
We’ve seen similar issues with the City of Miami’s Virrick pool. After two years of ignoring residents, the pool was built inadequately, changing the depth from ten to five feet. Former Commissioner Sabina Covo claimed helplessness. In contrast, Commissioner Damian Pardo showed leadership by initiating a comprehensive planning process with city planners, resulting in a plan that met residents’ needs. Where is this kind of leadership now?
Why is the County not listening? Why has this process dragged on for so long without considering residents’ input? One resident stated at the meeting he had been trying to reach the County for a year with no return calls. The community has repeatedly voiced their concerns, only to be ignored.
Commissioner Regalado may see the South Bayshore corridor planning as just a “drainage project” but to the hundreds, if not thousands, of residents who live in and use this corridor regularly, it is much more. County officials have demonstrated no intention of listening, seeming content to tick the box of having held “public input” meetings without, it appears, genuinely considering input from residents and highly regarded community organizations.
The county meetings have been a sham. Regalado talks about 3 meetings in 3 years, but since this was the 3rd at 90%, so input was on two days total 2 years ago. Regalado made it clear she considered this plan finished. Nobody was listened to before and certainly not at this meeting.
This is a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity. The decision and way forward will be a fix that will likely stay in place for another 50 years. It is time to get it right.
This is the busiest and arguably the most important pedestrian/cyclist link to 50+ miles of dedicated walkways from Key Biscayne to the Underline and south to Black Point. It is also the most degraded and dangerous stretch. Hotels and the city rent out bikes to novice tourists who then have to navigate the ruts, other people, and cars. Coconut Grove should not be a ‘pass through city to Pinecrest or Miami’. We deserve to be a world-class coastal city with safe pathways for residents and visitors alike. It is time to decide what we want to be, and for most, a ‘pass through to somewhere else’ is not welcomed.
The Spotlight article and another in the Miami Herald also failed to note that 1650 petitions demanding alternative designs championed by the Friends of Commodore Trail were submitted, but, unfortunately, not announced at the meeting (an opportunity lost). The FCT plan has also been looked at by another engineering firm, which demonstrated that traffic calming could easily be done by narrowing the lanes to 10′ and leaving more room for pedestrians. The county claims the trolleys are too wide for the narrow lanes, but that has also been disputed. If so, then ‘buy some narrower trolleys’. Put pedestrians and cyclists first, cars second.
Damian Pardo has a big challenge on his hands tackling this with the county, which, ultimately, makes the decision. Commissioner Covo failed us, not even bothering to resist. Commissioner Regalado is throwing us under the bus and ignoring input and it is time for a change. I get a sense she wants a ‘feather in her cap’ before the elections in a few weeks. Her competitor, Cindy Lerner, made a cogent case for safety first.
We need to get it right, not just tick off the box and move forward with a fix nobody is happy with.
I attended [Monday] night’s meeting via Zoom. I am disappointed with the County’s plans for this portion of the Trail.
My ‘guess’ is that due to the urgency of the drainage work being tied into this plan, the County did not take the time to thoroughly review and work with the excellent option proposed by the Friends of Commodore Trail. I can understand this urgency although I do not agree with it.
However, I cannot understand the County’s focus on the speed of car traffic rather than the safety and comfort of people who hopefully are choosing to walk/bike more and drive less.
Has the County adopted Vision Zero in name only? From what I heard last night, I have no choice but to believe that safety is secondary to car speed.
Someone on the ‘team’ said that lanes cannot be 10 feet because of buses, but I have seen and been on many buses on narrow streets, so I have a hard time believing this would be an issue. It would most likely cause drivers to be a bit more careful and to slow down and pay attention and we all would be safer.
As several speakers requested, I, too, would like to see how the County came up with the number of trees it claimed would be impacted by the Friends’ option. My feeling is the County did not do due diligence here.
Finally, we heard about impacts this option would have on private properties, but no details were provided. My feeling here, and I may be wrong, is that this involves public right of way which residents view as their own. I’ve seen this argument used against sidewalks and bikeways, and it is time that we recognize that our streets and the public right of way along our streets belong to all of us and not just a privileged few.
One aspect of this plan that didn’t make much sense to me was thinking the road bike folks would use the bike path. That’s not going to happen and shows a complete lack of understanding by the planners on this aspect of the project. Road bikers will continue to use the roads because a bike path, narrow, with two way traffic, bumpy surfaces, twists and curves, is entirely inadequate and is quite dangerous. Hundreds of road bikers ride South Bayshore every day and their safety and needs should be considered. This plan does not do that unfortunately.
I agree that road bike users will not use a bike path. From surveys I have seen, they represent only about 12% of the bike-riding public. The County’s Complete Streets guidance (2016) cites that “Strong and Fearless” riders are 7%, and “Enthused and Confident” riders are 5% of all riders, and they often prefer to use streets to ride. Those ‘fearless’ riders who prefer the roads are likely to continue using them, no matter what alternatives exist.
Given the realities of the space available and other constraints, the design solutions for S. Bayshore Dr. should concentrate on creating conditions that enable the majority of its users to ride and walk safely.