Voices talk past one another over Alton Road project Upload and share your own. You can share related videos and photos. Submit: Video Pictures By Sam Abbassi sabbassi@MiamiHerald Construction on Alton Road in Miami Beach has residents, the city of Miami Beach and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) all in contention with one another. Alton Road has had a notorious reputation for flooding and irregular pavement for years in the South Beach area. Plans have been drafted, however, to combat those problems and build a better road that serves the surrounding area of Alton Road. Construction began back in April and is set for completion in August 2015. According to FDOT, the project, which began its planning phase in April 2007, includes “three pump stations (at Fifth Street, 10th Street and 14th Street) and a new drainage system to improve stormwater drainage in the area,” in addition to rebuilding roadways, driveways, sidewalks, pedestrian ramps and constructing sidewalk extensions. The main point of contention, however, comes from the vision for the road. Residents like Tammy Tibbles have been vocal about the direction the project is taking and the direction she and her organization, Alton Road Reconstruction Coalition (ARRC), want it to take. “This section of Alton Road is one of the most important commercial districts in Miami Beach,” Tibbles said. “It would be a tragedy to spend $32 million on a project that does not improve safety, economic vitality and cultural progress.” Tibbles is one of many voices that have been active in this long-standing dispute with FDOT in how the project should be drafted, initiated and executed. The primary issue of concern is the lane widths of the road. Currently, the plans have the lanes at 11-foot and 14-foot widths, while the residents are asking for 10-foot-wide lanes. The concern has been the safety of the wider lanes in regards to the largely pedestrian-centric population of Alton Road — essentially that wider lanes mean faster-moving cars. Gus Pego, head of FDOT for the Miami-Dade area, said at a commission meeting Wednesday night that the speed limit would not increase and would remain the same as it is today, dousing concerns of speed-related hazards. However, Beach resident Matthew Lambert referenced the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), saying that the posted speed does not control the actual speed of cars, but rather the design of the road is what controls it. “At 11 feet, those cars are going to travel between 40 and 45 miles per hour, it doesn’t matter what you put up there. At 14 feet, people will travel 60 miles per hour — that is absolutely atrocious,” Lambert said. Residents have been quick to blame the city for all perceived failures, including the lane width controversy. “The city has not done enough,” local resident Scott Diffenderfer said. “As much as I’d like to blame FDOT, they’re just a bunch of engineers applying a formula. If the city had a proper plan, things would be different.” Mayor Matti Bower, however, noted the city’s 20 public, neighborhood and stakeholder meetings on the design requirements as evidence of the city’s involvement in this project. “The city has worked very hard, administratively and politically, to ensure that our residents’ requests were heard,” Bower said. City attorney Jose Smith stated that these complaints were without credibility. “Where were these people back when negotiations began?” Smith said. “Back then, the city managed to get concessions from FDOT.” The concessions are also recent, such as moving the proposed bicycle lanes from Alton Road to the safer West Avenue, parallel to Alton. “It was as a result of the city’s effort that FDOT agreed to move the bike lanes from Alton to West Avenue,” Bower said. Though construction has already begun, meetings have been planned between the commission and FDOT to revisit the design of the project in the hope that they can come to a decision — one that won’t impact the timeline for completion. Read more here: miamiherald/2013/06/07/3438795/voices-talk-past-one-another-over.html#storylink=cpy
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 20:49:25 +0000