Alton Road Reconstruction Coalition An Alton Road For Everyone Skip to content Home About Us Parking Speed Limit Peds & Peddles Business Support In The Press Events A Brief History of Alton Road’s Redesign – Part I 1 Reply digg Email In June 2009, Miami Beach experienced a freak rain event. Nearly 10 inches of rain fell in 2 hours. As one might imagine, flooding was wide-spread. However, the worst hit area was South Beach, more specifically, the Flamingo Park and West Avenue neighborhoods. As you can see from the map below, Alton Road is the primary aerial road through the flood area. Credit: Google Maps Affected Flood Area Credit: Google Maps Affected Flood Area To get an understanding of the severity of the flooding, check out these images and video. Credit: Bill Cooke 8th Street and Alton Road Credit: Bill Cooke 7th Street and Alton Credit: Bill Cooke Alton Road between 9th and 10th Credit: Bill Cooke Alton Road between 9th and 10th Streets The following year, in 2010, another rain event occurred which was a near repeat of the previous year’s. This blog post on RandomPixels discusses the severity of the flooding issue and how requests for mitigation where going un-addressed. However, plans were underway. Credit: Transit Miami Flooding caused by high-tide event Credit: Bill Cooke Transit riders wait for their bus despite the flood waters In April 2007, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) began the planning process to address high-tide flooding, which occurs numerous times throughout the year when salt waters from Biscayne Bay rise up through the storm sewer drains. This image is taken southbound in the 900 block of Alton Road. These high-tide events prevent access to businesses in the affected areas, as well as flood damage to structures, fixtures, and inventory. Cars cannot park in on-street parking spots during these events and if one is unfortunate enough to be caught in an on-street spot they will surely have water damage. These high-tide events also affect traffic flow because the rising waters make the outside lanes of the roadway dangerous. Plus, transit stops are compromised making it difficult for transit riders to reach the bus and impossible for those with limited mobility to access public transit. So, in April 2007, FDOT and the City of Miami Beach began the design and review process required when redesigning a state roadway. Alton Road is Florida State Highway 907, therefore, it falls under the purview of the Florida Department of Transportation. This includes design, engineering, maintenance, and construction. The entire right of way, 100 feet, is owned by the state of Florida. This area includes the sidewalks. As part of the planning and design process, FDOT is required to seek input from a Study Project Advisory Group. The group included community activists, property owners, business owners, and neighborhood leaders. Additionally, FDOT worked with the City of Miami Beach administration and Commission. By May 2008, FDOT felt they had sufficient information to seek the approval of the required “Local Preferred Alternative” (LPA) from the Miami Beach City Commission. The Commission approved the design below. Local Preferred Alternative Approved May 2008 Local Preferred Alternative Approved May 2008 Elements of the design are: 15’ Sidewalks 9.5’ Parking Lanes 11’ Travel Lanes 55’ “Kill Zone” with bulbouts Center Median with trees Despite approving the plan, the Commission had several concerns and incorporated their concerns in Resolution 2008-26824. Their concerns were: Pedestrians and Cyclists to share 15’ sidewalks Limited landscaping along sidewalks No on-demand pedestrian crosswalks at 9th, 13th, & 14th Loss of 90+ Parking Spaces The Commission unanimously passed 2008-26824 Reso – a resolution requesting, among other things, that FDOT: Petition the Federal Highway Administration for a waiver to reduce the lane width from 11 feet to 10.5 feet. The Commission would have liked 10 feet but FDOT refused the request to submit the waiver for 10 feet but agreed to submit a waiver for 10.5 feet. The value of lane width reduction achieves 1) slower speeds, and 2) wider sidewalks which would be beneficial considering that in the LPA, cyclists and pedestrians would share the sidewalk. Complete a speed study of the roadway with the intent of correcting the speed limit from the current 35 MPH to 30 MPH which would reflect the speed limit along the Miami Beach Golf Course which has no cross streets, no traffic lights, no east side sidewalk, and no on-street parking on the east side. Provide on-demand pedestrian cross signals and intersections that do not have automated signalization. In July 2011, FDOT returned before the City Commission to provide a “Report On The Proposed Alton Road Improvements Between 5th Street To Michigan Avenue”. FDOT presented the following design which included a new bike lane, not previously approved. FDOT Design presented July 2011 FDOT Design presented July 2011 The Commission was surprised by this deviation from their LPA, approved three years prior. The Commission had no advance notice of this design change, as no staff report was provided as part of the Agenda item. The new design added a 5 foot bike lane reducing sidewalk widths from 15 feet to 9 feet. Seeing this, the Commission pushed back stating the dangers of sandwiching cyclists between traffic and the “door zone” of parked cars. Additionally, they expressed concerns over the loss of sidewalk. The Commission did not seem to pick up on the fact that FDOT also reported their refusal to submit a waiver for lane width reductions and failure to complete the requested speed study. Highlights of this meeting include: FDOT did not request the waiver for lane width reductions FDOT did not complete speed study FDOT will not provide on-demand pedestrian crosswalks Staff report states “City staff has urged FDOT to incorporate Transportation Design for Livable Communities concepts into its design. These concepts include reducing the design speed from 40 mph to 35 mph, which could result in shorter sight lines and less of a reduction in on-street parking.” Drainage construction to begin April 2013 Overall reconstruction to begin July 2016 The Commission discussed moving the bike lanes to West Ave to allow for wider side walks and a safer cycling facility. FDOT stated that the cost of constructing the bike lanes on West Ave would fall to the City and that the change would have no impact on the FDOT budget because the only difference is where the curb is placed. In December 2011, FDOT returned to present a technical memorandum on bike lane alternatives for Alton Road (Technical Memo 249911-1-52-01). There was no staff report to prepare the Commission for what they were about to be presented with. This, despite the technical memorandum being written in October, 2011. FDOT presented several bike lane alternatives: 1. Protected bike lane between curb and parked cars FDOT Bike Lane Option 1 - Bike Lane between curb and parking 2. Protected bike lane with curb on both sides of bike laneFDOT Bike Lane Option 2 - Protected Bike Lane 3. Bike lane between curb and traffic with no on-street parkingFDOT Bike Lane Option 3 - Unprotected Bike Lane without parking 4. Bike lane between parked cars and moving trafficFDOT Bike Lane Option 4 - Unprotected Bike Lane with parking 5. Move bike lanes to West Avenue Commissioner Libbin interrupted FDOT’s presentation and asked if “one of the alternatives is to move the bike lanes to West Avenue because that’s what we’ve been asking for so let’s just look at that one [paraphrased]“. FDOT then explained that moving the bike lanes to West Avenue and connecting east-west streets would cost the City of Miami Beach an estimated $11,000,000 and require a redesign of that roadway perhaps impacting on-street parking availability. When asked what the cost would be to put bike lanes on Alton Road if the Commission approves the placement of bike lanes on Alton FDOT replied “$0″. Commission Libbin questioned FDOT’s figure of $0, stating “it is not credible” and that “striping costs around a hundred thousand a block, so I find it hard to believe that putting a bike lane on Alton Road will not cost anything.” FDOT then stated that there might be a cost for the bike lane to go on Alton but their estimates do not have a line item for the bike lane portion. FDOT’s preferred alternative is Option 4 which places the cyclist between moving traffic and the door zone of parked cars. This creates a 9 foot sidewalk which limits landscaping options and cafe seating. FDOT Bike Lane Option 4 - Unprotected Bike Lane with parking The Mayor asked what the Commission was being asked to do. Fred Beckmann, then Director of Public Works, stated that the Neighborhoods Committee approved the design in order to get it before the Commission to see if the Commission wanted to move the bike lanes to West Avenue and if they wanted the bike lanes moved to West Avenue the City Attorney’s office would be asked to pursue legal action to have the bike lanes moved. After considerable discussion, the Commission voted unanimously to litigate against FDOT “to get a safer bike route” (see December 14, 2011 After Actions). In July 18, 2012, FDOT, once again, returned to the City Commission, this time to request easements be granted to FDOT so the final phase of engineering drawings could be completed and construction could begin when needed. Additionally, FDOT provided a “project update“. Again, there was no staff report and no advanced notice to the Commission regarding what they were going to be asked to consider. This time FDOT discussed a plan which puts the bike lanes on West Avenue but places a sharrow in the outside portion of a 14 foot lane. FDOT claims that the sharrow is required because, even if West Avenue provides bike lanes, cyclists are allowed on Alton Road and FDOT felt they needed to provide a bike facility per state law. As you can imagine, the Commission was surprised, considering that they had told FDOT 6 months earlier that the Commission would litigate if FDOT continued to put a bike route on Alton Road. FDOT stated that a conference call was scheduled with FDOT the day following the commission meeting in to discuss with state FDOT authorities in Tallahassee the moving the bike facility from Alton Road to West Avenue. One statement worth noting is that when asked by Mayor Bower by “eliminating the bicycles from Alton Road do you have any savings”, FDOT replies “there is no savings because, at the end of the day, you’re changing it from pavement to sidewalk.” FDOT states that moving the curb line at this point would cause them to redesign the entire project and delay the letting date (April 2013). Then, Fred Beckmann states that the City has asked FDOT to keep the outside lane width at 14′ in order to accommodate for future mass transit. This is the first time the need to accommodate mass transit was mentioned in over six years of Commission discussions. After considerable discussion, the Commission unanimously agreed to pay to place bike lanes on West Avenue and all connecting east-west streets. When the vote was called to provide the easements, Commissioners Gongora and Weithorn expressed concerns with the way FDOT has handled this design. They both voted against the easements. July 19, 2012, Mayor Bower, Interim City Manger Kathie Brooks, City Administration staff, City Attorney’s staff, FDOT Assistant Secretary of Engineering and Operations, FDOT District Six Secretary, FDOT General Counsel and the City’s lobbyist attended a conference call to address moving the bike facility from Alton Road to West Avenue. On this call, FDOT agreed to allow the City of Miami Beach to fund and construct bike lanes on West Avenue and all connecting east-west streets, to not move the curb line or footprint in accordance to the final roadway design plans, and the road would be marked with shared lane markings. Read the Letter to the Commission regarding this item LTC 193-2012 FDOT Proposed Bicycle Lanes. This is where Miami Beach got sideswiped. If you watch the Commission meeting, you will not see a rendering of the roadway displayed. Nor, will you hear a detailed description or definition of the “current plan’s footprint”. Yet, FDOT continues to ask the Commission to allow them to proceed with the “existing footprint”. We think neither the public nor the Commission were fully informed on the design because the last approved design was the LPA approved in May 2008. No other design was approved. * Click here for a document providing all Commission motions and After Action reports Alton Road 6th to Michigan A Brief History. In March 2013, FDOT makes 2 public presentations (at the Miami Beach Golf Club and the Flamingo Park Police Athletic League). This is the first time the public is aware of the FDOT design which: Places cyclists between moving traffic and parked cars, Loses approximately 90 on-street parking spaces, Reduces sidewalk width from the current 14 feet (in some cases including the swale) to 9 feet, Limits available planting areas, Contains no central median, no on-demand pedestrian crosswalks, and Prevents left turns on and off Alton Road at signalized and non-signalized intersections. FDOT Plan The public was shocked and outraged. Within a month, a groundswell of public outrage builds into a grassroots organization, the Alton Road Reconstruction Coalition (ARRC). After a mere 6 weeks of organizing, researching, educating, canvasing, and engagement with elected officials, ARRC received the support of Representative David Richardson and Senator Gwen Margolis. Additionally, on June 5, 2013, the City Commission heard a discussion item on the Alton Road design. See the recap blog post for details. Construction began April 1, 2013. This is the end of Part I of this saga. Part II begins Wednesday June 12, 2013 when members of ARRC, City Administrative staff, and FDOT will meet to revisit the design with the hope of creating a design for Alton Road that better meets the vision of the Commission and the public. At 3:00 PM the same day (June 12, 2013) City staff is to provide a progress report to the Land Use Committee. Stay tuned. digg Email This entry was posted in Blog on June 9, 2013. Post navigation ← FDOT Statements on Speed and Safety June 8: Miami Herald Article → One thought on “A Brief History of Alton Road’s Redesign – Part I” Susan Weitz June 9, 2013 at 5:14 PM There is no room on West Ave, no matter what configuration, for a bike lane. Does your proposal for West Ave do away with current parking spaces? There is little of them as it is. All of us can not use bicycles, scooters or motorcycles. We need to get to work on West Ave with a car. What is never addressed is the removal of the ramp. Everyone knows that it needs to come down for the current plans of construction between 5h and 6th St, West Ave and Alton Road. Look at the plans of the developer and the ramp has been removed. It was well down when the ramp from 63rd St to Indian Creek and Collins Ave was removed. Traffice actually flows smoother than with the ramp. Reply ↓ Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. 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Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 23:41:25 +0000
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