Residents were briefed last week on the results of the City of Miami’s Little Bahamas and Center Grove Traffic Calming study. Many were disappointed.
Melanie Rinaldi was troubled last week when school children – and their safety – weren’t prioritized as part of the Little Bahamas & Center Grove Traffic Calming study presented to Coconut Grove residents at the Elizabeth Virrick Park gymnasium.
“There was nothing that considered children or children zones,” Rinalda told the Spotlight after the meeting. “They claim there is nothing they can do about it, but they obviously can. It’s just disappointing.”
Others at the meeting were disappointed as well in the results and recommendations presented Thursday night by two engineers who conducted the study on behalf of the City of Miami – Nelson Mora and Eugenio Lopez from Choice Engineering Consultants.
The study measured the speed and the volume of traffic at 61 locations inside a small slice of Coconut Grove bounded by Southwest 27th Avenue on the east, Grand Avenue on the south and South Dixie Highway on the north and the west.
Lopez and Mora identified traffic volume, not speed, as a major concern on the residential streets that crisscross the study area.
“The speeds were not actually as high as we were expecting,” Lopez told residents. “Volume was the main issue, contrary to community input.”
The engineers identified 16 locations on 10 streets in need of traffic calming. In those locations, solutions could include roundabouts, speed humps, turn restrictions, textured pavement, additional traffic signs or road markings, all of which are designed to slow speeding cars and discourage cut-through traffic.
The streets that qualify for traffic calming, per the study, are: Oak Avenue, Day Avenue, Elizabeth Street and Douglas Road to the west, McDonald Street in the center of the study area, and Matilda Street, Viriginia Street, Mary Street, Day Avenue, Shipping Avenue and Southwest 28 Terrace to the east.
The engineers said the City of Miami could address traffic problems on those streets by implementing two levels of remedies allowed by Miami-Dade County.
The first level of measures would include the installation of turn restrictions at peak hours, textured pavements, and Neighborhood Speed Watch signs. If these measures don’t solve the problem, the city can move to a second level of remedies.
Those measures include speeds humps, speed chokers and roundabouts – all of which require more funding and construction.
Residents who attended Thursday’s presentation expressed frustration over local traffic problems and government bureaucracy when Javier Gonzalez, a Miami District 2 commission aide, and Charles Alfaro, an assistant director for transportation at the City of Miami, opened the floor for questions.
Gonzalez and Alfaro explained that “their hands were tied” in many ways by the county. Not only does the county have to approve most traffic-calming options, but it also has full jurisdiction over certain roads like Southwest 27th Avenue and Douglas Road.
Gonzalez and Alfaro also explained that the city has limited jurisdiction in school zones where the county and its school system set most of the rules. On top of that, before adding many of the traffic-calming measures, the city will have to check with police, fire and rescue to make sure none of the measures will impede routes, the two city representatives said.
Residents were most passionate about school zones and protecting children. Coconut Grove Elementary School on Matilda Street was cited as a specific concern.
The study presented Thursday did suggest adding flashers and pavement markings on Oak Avenue behind the school, but residents wanted more. Some proposed extending the school zone, which can only be done by the county, or adding speed bumps.
“We see it every day,” said Grove resident Sergio Barrero. Matilda has become a through street for Uber and Lyft drivers who use Waze, Barrero said. “There is a lot of flow both ways, and no one is thinking about the kids.”
Rinaldi said the parents of children at the school are part of the problem.
“The parents are the ones speeding after dropping their kids off at school,” Rinaldi said. “They have no regard for speed in the school area and will even honk and pressure you if they think you are going too slow.”
Another resident complained that no one from the county attended the meeting. “We need both sides here,” Renita Samuels-Dixon said. “The county and the city need to be at these meetings so the constituents can hear both sides.”
Gonzalez said the city is working on obtaining funding for the options presented Thursday, and hopes to receive that funding by November. He encouraged residents to “whoop his butt” with email complaints, so he can bring them to the city and county.
Gonzalez also said the city would convene a separate meeting to discuss traffic issues on Matilda with a tentative date of Saturday November 9. Residents can contact Gonzalez at 305-582-5085 or email at [email protected].
