Some Thoughtful Response to the FDOT plan for Alton Road Reconstruction

From: Matthew Lambert [mailto:matt@dpz.com]

Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 9:43 AM
To: WAvNA (West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association)
Cc: Karja Hansen; Denis Russ

Subject: Re: Thanks & Followup: FDOT meeting

I would have liked to attend but I had another meeting that conflicted. Please share the FDOT presentation information, I'm quite interested in seeing their design choices. They should be using Chapter 19 of the Florida Greenbook rather than the normal Greenbook chapters. Chapter 19 includes alternative standards for DOT roadways in urban areas, like South Beach, where pedestrian and bicycle traffic is much greater than in the majority of the areas FDOT operates which are rural. Their normal operating procedure is to apply rural design standards to urban roadways.

On a related note, I will soon be circulating, through our CNU+MIA organization, draft legislation to push for the adoption of Chapter 19 for Miami-Dade County DOT. FDOT has already adopted this chapter, we need the County to do the same. I've had great interaction with CMB transportation and CIP, who are supportive of pedestrian-centric design for roadways, but the county standards are still in the way. These are why we can't have additional stop signs in many places, on 11th Street and Flamingo Park as an example. I hope we can have the support of WAvNA in pushing these standards to the county; we will be contacting many other citizen and activist organizations for support on this matter.

Regarding the temporary funneling of traffic onto West, which is a horrible idea, you may reference Carmageddon in Los Angeles. Carmageddon was twice cited as a threat when LA had to shut down a few freeways for roadwork, the assumption being that without those roadways the city would absolutely choke in traffic. It didn't happen. Traffic went down. No modifications to flow are needed to deal with construction on Alton. People have the choice of taking the Venetian or 195 if 395 is too difficult, and vice versa. Alton needs not to be thought of as a long-distance thoroughfare or part of the highway system, as it is currently considered, but rather a road serving the City of Miami Beach residents and businesses. And finally on this point I have observed through our many flooding incidents that Alton can operate well with only two lanes. Very often it is reduced to this width between 9th and 11th, sure theres some backup but thats okay. Level of service D through F is appropriate in urban areas like South Beach. Level of service A through C are not. Level of service is the indicator DOT uses to determine the vehicular flow through intersections to make design decisions.

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Matthew Lambert
matt@dpz.com