Oppositions group including Transit Alliance, 1000 Friends of Florida, Friends of the Everglades and others have asked County Commissioners postpone the decision until alternatives have been studied.
And better transportation infrastructure would spur development of walkable communities, which would delay calls for future highway widenings. Transit Alliance Miami says l ight rail or bus rapid transit - which would offer commuters an alternative to highway gridlock - could be built for a fraction of the proposed $650-million highway price tag. No consideration of transit was offered at all. The county has only considered the highway extension in two alignments, one closer to the residential areas, and another further into the wetlands. In addition, no alternatives to the highway extension have been officially explored by Miami-Dade. The lack of certainty about the highway’s position has neutralized protests from homeowners groups in the West Kendall area, according to the Herald. The Expressway Authority spent $150,000 of taxpayer money to advertise the plan, but the agency hasn’t even finalized the route of the highway, plus other important details, before the consequential vote, the Miami Herald reported. The highway will go beyond Miami-Dade’s urban growth boundary into sensitive environmental areas like the Bird Drive Basin, which was set aside to replenish the Everglades National Park.
The proposal to extend the 836 along the western border of Miami’s developed area is being championed by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority and by County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. On Thursday, the Miami-Dade County Commission will vote on whether to proceed with building a 13-mile highway through the Everglades that opponents say imperils the region’s drinking water and vulnerable coastal areas, and will help cement a sprawling growth pattern and near-total dependence on highways only to dump more traffic onto the already-congested State Route 836, or the “Dolphin Expressway.” Miami is on the verge of doubling down on the bad planning decisions that have made it such a traffic nightmare.
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